Truth
by amacma
Summary: One month after 'Fallout', post s8. Audrey returns to Washington DC to search for Jack. Now Complete! Rated T for violence/torture. Disclaimer: I do not own 24 or it's characters.
1. Application

_AN: this story resumes my other story 'Fallout'. _

_What previously happened: Major terrorist attacks took down the whole power grid in northern America. Several bombs were ignited and martial law was declared. Jack was on the run becuse of what he did at the end of Season 8, after Renee's death.  
Chloe gave his location to president Taylor, in return for a pardon for her involvement.  
Jack met Audrey again. But he left her because she got married in the meantime. Heller forced him to join the military again._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

.

**.**

**Application**  
Tuesday, 18th September, 2018  
07:40am LT, Washington DC

* * *

The chief of the office of Military Intelligence took the file from his desk into his hands and flipped it open. He glanced at the woman across the table with some dissatisfaction. Since he had received her letter of application, he had meticulously checked her background, just to find out that she would be perfect for the job.

It was hard to find people with actual experience in the supervision of field activities and in the relevant protocols.

There hadn't been any photo attached to the application.

As he eyed her now, he had to admit that she didn't fit the picture that he had had in his mind as he had read her file. She was a tall blonde, wearing a designer suit and high heels. That was a sharp contrast to all others of this unit.

He read through her CV once more, briefly, to get the dates right. "I read here that you left the active service five years ago, Ms. Anderson?"

She nodded. "Yes. That's correct."

"I read your file…", he sighed, "… that you were abducted by Chinese Agents."

"That's correct.", she answered again, slightly starting to feel uncomfortable. "Is that of any matter for your decision?"

He thought for a moment, but then shook his head no. "No, Ms. Anderson. But I had some severe doubts if you were… up to this job, before this conversation."

She shifted in the chair and then crossed her legs again. "Do you still have doubts about it? This all is a very long time ago, Colonel Tusker. It's past. I'm well over it."

He put on a soft smile. "No, I don't have any doubts any more, Ms. Anderson. Please, accept my apologies." He cleared his throat. "But there's still one thing I'd like to discuss with you."

Audrey feared that it would be something unpleasant, too. "Go ahead, Sir."

He fought hard to find the right words. "Your father… is… the Secretary of Defense… is that right?", he began.

"Yes. I hope that does not influence your decision.", she said, "Neither in a positive nor in a negative way."

He was relieved to hear this. "No, Ms. Anderson. I was just… wondering why you chose to work this part of Military Intelligence. As I read in your file, you are qualified for higher tasks. You could have also chosen to work in the administration of Ministry."

"And now you are wondering why I prefer to apply to your department?", she cut in.

"Yes."

Audrey sighed. She leant forward to Colonel Tusker, to speak more silently. "Sir… I'm tired of being linked to my father. I have applied to work here because for once I don't want to hear the voices which keep telling that I had only received jobs because of my family relations. This department is far enough away so that nobody will see my relation to the Secretary of Defense at first sight." She took a deep breath, "And Sir – I would be very thankful if you could keep my family relations confidential, to both the people here and the Secretary."

Colonel Tusker watched her intensely. She made an honest expression to him. He could read people very well for normal. Reading her face showed him that she was honest about the connection to her father. This woman really wanted this job. She seemed like she didn't want to work in a position where people could blame her that she had only gotten the job because of being the Secretary's daughter.

"You know Ms. Anderson,", he began, "sooner or later the truth will come out. People will know someday."

She understood him perfectly. "I just hope that I can make it 'later' in this place.", she answered.

He smiled. "I'm sure you will.", he answered, signaling her that she'd get the job. "When can you start?"

"Right away."

He closed her file and put it onto a stack on his desk. Then he stood up and went around the desk. Audrey stood, too.

He approached her, impressed by her appearance. "Please be here tomorrow morning, 7am. Report in the human resources section and then you'll receive your keycard and the duty roster."

They shook hands. "I'll be there. Thank you for giving me the chance."

Audrey finally took her bag and turned to leave the office. Right as she was at the door, Tusker called her name again. "Ms. Anderson?"

She turned at the spot.

"You know, I would have given you this job anyway. No matter who your father might be.", he said.

She nodded her approval. "Thank you Sir. That means a lot to me.", she spoke and then left the room.

.

Audrey went down the hallway with a small smile on her face. Actually she was much happier than just that, but she wanted to preserve her professional face. She had got the job.

As she went through the building, she looked to the offices and situation rooms to her left and right. This building reminded her of the old CTU Los Angeles very much. The walls were made of concrete and most of the doors made of glass. The main office of the Defense Intelligence Agency was located close to Washington DC, at Bolling Airfoce Base.

Her choice to work here had also been caused by it's location. Her dad was working within the pentagon. Most of the military agencies were located within the pentagon. The DIA at Bolling Airforce base was just out of the city and far away enough from the pentagon, so she wouldn't cross his ways accidentally.

For a second she stopped and had a look at a big metal picture of the seal of the Agency, which hung at the wall right next to the elevators. It featured a picture of the globe which was wrapped into satellite orbits. The challenge of the new job felt good. She had made the right decision to come back here.

Audrey stepped into the elevator. She hadn't been to DC for years. After her return from China she had first stayed with her father in his house. Somehow she had ended up in California. She had been back to DC for a couple of times to visit her cousin Monica, but the time span between the visits had become longer and longer. She was glad that Monica was still such a good friend. As she had arrived here, back in DC, two days ago, she had directly gone to see her. Actually she hadn't even known if Monica still lived in the same place, or if she was still single, but thank god she was. She had stayed with her ever since.

At the ground floor she got out along with a bunch of army officers. Half of the people employed here were members of the military, the other half were civilians. She strode through the main entrance hall and left the building to take a cab back to Monica's house.

This was the exact right place. If there was a chance to find Jack again, then she'd find him here, through the channels of the DIA. That was the only reason why she had come back to DC.

* * *

06:32pm LT, New York

The travel from Washington DC to New York had never been more complicated. The power grid was still down in the most parts of the country. The military was patrolling all the streets. Every few blocks within the city and every few miles out on the countryside had been checkpoints.

He wore his army uniform, which got him cleared through all the checkpoints, though these were his two days off. It was the first time in weeks that he was not on duty and he had decided to visit Chloe.

Carrying only the most important things in his backpack he strode down 6th street towards her and Morris' apartment. He hoped they hadn't moved in the meantime.

For a long time she had been the only person from his 'old' life whom he had been in contact with. The day when she had sold him out a month ago was the last time he had ever heard anything of her. He had tried to contact her several times within the past weeks, but the phone lines were still down. Not even a person like Chloe O Brian had managed to get back online.

Glad to be finally here Jack went up the stairs to her front door. He hoped she and her family were ok as he tried the doorbell. To his surprise it worked. They were one of the few households who still had electric power.

Nothing happened for the first minutes. He rang again.

Somebody moved inside the house, he heard.

Jack precautionally opened the hatch around the butt of the gun inside his belt holster. His hand lay at the gun as the door finally got opened.

The lock turned slowly. The front door opened for a gap, until the chain halted it promptly. A woman appeared at the gap.

As she saw him she nearly fainted.

"Chloe, are you alright?", Jack worriedly asked her.

Hurriedly she removed the door chain and came out. Franticly she threw her arms around him for an embrace. "Jack, I'm so sorry for everything."

He finally let go of the gun, as he saw Morris in the corridor behind her. They seemed to be okay.

She let go of him to look into his eyes.

Jack realized her odd view. "Chloe, what's up?", he asked her.

"Jack… I didn't want this to happen.", she stammered.

"What…? What didn't you want to happen?", he asked again.

"It was me who sold you out to Wellington and Taylor. I'm so sorry. I tried everything to find you again during the last weeks, but they cut off all my channels.", she apologized, knowing that no apology could ever make up for such a betrayal.

Jack sighed deeply. "Chloe, I don't blame you for anything.", he murmured. "I just came here to understand this all for once. Who was behind all this? Who forced you to sell me out to them?"

"I took you quite long to come here for that.", Morris cut in.

Jack looked up. His view went past Chloe, into the dark hallway where Morris stood. From here Jack couldn't see his right hand. It was hidden behind a nearby bureau. He guessed Morris had a weapon there.

"I had no chance to get here earlier.", he replied to Morris. Jack could see from here that Chloe's husband was still skeptical. He raised his hands for a small bit, to show Morris a conciliating gesture.

But the other one was still skeptical.

Morris now dared to move towards them.

Jack spotted the gun in his hand. He had been right with his guess.

Morris went up to Chloe and put his arms around her shoulders from behind.

"Morris…", she protested. She was sure by now that Jack hadn't come here to harm them in any way.

"Get back into the house, sweetheart.", he commanded her with a rough tone. He stood in front of her protectively.

Jack and he stood at an arm's length.

Morris eyed him from head to toe. "Quite a nice disguise, Jack.", he remarked, weaving at his military uniform.

"That's not a disguise.", Jack answered. "Look, Morris, I just came here to get some answers. I don't want to bother you both."

Morris grabbed the handle of the gun faster. Jack saw his fist clenching. He still tried to soothe the man opposite the stoop.

"Morris, I don't want anything else than to talk. I just need a few answers.", he repeated.

"No Jack, you don't understand.", Morris countered. "Simply your presence always endangers other people. I don't know where you came from Jack, but I want you to leave and never to return. Chloe, get into the house."

"Morris, no.", she protested.

He didn't listen to her. Instead he pushed her back into the apartment and slammed the door shut behind. Morris stayed at the outside with Jack.

"Jack, please leave.", he repeated. "It never stays at just a few answers. New questions will come up and then you just want her to find more answers through illegal channels. I don't want you to tear her into this any deeper. I know you."

Jack saw that Morris wanted to protect her because he really cared. He thought for a few moments but then turned around and strolled down the stairs again. Morris was right.

At the bottom of the stairs he stopped and turned back once more. Morris was still there.

Jack took a deep breath. The way here had been too long just to give up right now. "Morris, I want just one single answer- I just want to know who was behind this. We both know that she sold me out because somebody forced her to and I want to know the name of that person. That's it. No further question, no search for other answers."

"Jack, I don't know that name. Leave now, I beg you.", Morris snapped.

Jack stepped back. "Okay. But tell her I need the name. Just the name, nothing else.", Jack spoke and then went away.


	2. Grave

**Grave**  
Tuesday, 18th September, 2018  
10:12pm LT, Washington DC

* * *

As she had come home, to her cousin Monica's apartment, the table had been set already with some delicious food for dinner. They had eaten together and had sat on the couch watching TV together, just like in the old times.

Audrey really loved her cousin. They had been best friends, on from the time when they had been five years old. At the age of sixteen they had been out, hunting for boys. Later on, Monica had been the witness to her marriage with Paul and also her best friend as her liaison with Paul had come to an end. She really was a true friend.

Slowly Audrey strolled through her room, had a short look outside the window and then went over to the bed. She had made herself at home in here, and that was not the first time.

She had lived in here before, for a few weeks, as Paul had constantly fought with her. That had been the occasion, when Monica had also met Jack.

She lay down and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. Whenever she lay down here and then looked at the large mirror at the other side of the room, she had to think of Jack. Monica had probably been the only member of her family who had known about their affair. He had spent a few nights with her in here, as she had lived with her cousin. She could still remember the nights when they had made fun of the large mirrors.

In the aftermath, their nights here had for sure belonged to the best they had ever shared. Nobody except her cousin had known they were here. This wasn't one of these many hotel rooms, which she had shared with Jack, living with the constant fear if somebody came to knock at the door any other second – or even worse – if that person would be her husband.

Monica had asked her earlier, why she was taking all that effort to find him again. She could very well remember the time after China, when he had left her. In her opinion, this man was not worth being found again.

She had then told her about how she had met Jack again, a month ago. He had saved her life again, by getting her out of one of the places where a major terrorist attack had gone down. Even Monica had changed her bad mind about him as she had listened to her story.

One thing had never completely gone out of her mind. Again and again, he had told her that he had had no choice but to leave her. She hadn't been able to make any sense out of that. Twice she had asked her father what Jack could have meant with that but he hadn't had any good answer for her. She had begged him to find out to which place Jack's unit had been deployed, but he hadn't answered her on that question either.

A week ago she had told her husband Miles that she needed a few days for herself. He had been mad with her, had tried to talk her out of this, but she had just left him back alone in their house in L.A.

The travel across the whole country had been unspeakably difficult. There was almost no air traffic. The few flights were expensive and overbooked. She had made a part of the way on a flight from San Francisco to Atlanta. The rest of the way she had had to travel by train. It had been horrible and in the aftermath, she had to admit, that it had been very dangerous to do all this.

For some short moments on the way she had begun to think if this all was worth it. Was it worth to take all this risk just to find him again? The bad feeling came back when she remembered that she had done exactly that before, in China.

Feeling uncomfortably Audrey lay in bed and stared at the flame of the candle on her bedside table. There were far too many bad memories in her head right now to sleep.

Somehow she managed to push the memories of China aside. But the emptiness inside her mind freed the pictures of the day when she had seen Jack for the last time. She had left him. She remembered how her husband had come over to her, had hugged her, had kissed her, while Jack had watched. She remembered how he had finally turned away and had left. She hadn't seen him again ever since.

Every other night, since that day, she had seen him in her dreams. But they had hadn't been pleasant ones. It was the same picture most of the times: they were torturing him in front of her eyes.

Though she desperately starred at the light of the candle and tried to keep her eyes open sleepiness got the better of her.  
Cheng appeared. With this sadistic grin on his ugly face he nodded to his guards. They switched on the light and suddenly she saw the bloody, beaten up heap that once used to be Jack.  
She screamed.

* * *

11:07pm LT, Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn

Chloe stepped out of the cab for the second time within this hour. The first time she had driven to the little apartment which had used to be Jack's hideout a few months ago. But he hadn't been there. Instead, the whole building had been burned down by somebody in the vicissitudes of the civil riots.

There was only one other place where she suspected Jack could be, and that was where she had gone now- to Brooklyn, to visit the Cypress Hills cemetery. She had been here before, only four months ago, when Rene had been buried.

As she strode through the dark rows of gravestones she could remember the way very well.

It was ghostly dark.

A thick layer of clouds hung from the sky, covering the stars and the bit of moon light. The few street lamps which normally lighted the alleys through the cemetery were now dark.

Chloe zipped up her jacket and turned left. Her eyes had adapted to the darkness a bit better now.

She went through an endless seeming aisle between small white gravestones. It was a ghostly situation, since she could only a few yards to every side. For a short moment she stopped and looked back to where she had come from- but it looked the same in every direction.

Somehow she wished she wouldn't have paid the taxi driver already. She had been so sure that Jack was here when she had gotten out of the cab, but she wasn't any longer. This place had a frightening atmosphere. It was dark, windy, drizzling and cold. She went on, hoping to find the place that she was looking for. She tried to remember the day of Renee's funeral. A handful of people had only been here, maybe ten or fifteen.

Finally she found the memorial square which was familiar to her. She went across. In front of her, on the other side, was a row with relatively new graves. Renee's was at the very end of the row.

She saw Jack, sitting there, on the grass, from far.

"Jack.", she said aloud, as she approached him.

He turned his head, slowly. "Chloe.", he answered, surprised by her sudden appearance.

She sat down onto the grass, next to him. Soon she felt the wet ground soaking her pants.

Jack had been here for a much longer time. His hair and his jacket were still wet from the rain showers which had passed a few hours ago. Silently Chloe eyed his uniform. He had mentioned earlier that it was not a disguise.

The unit badges and shoulder epaulets identified him as a captain within 5th battalion of 22nd infantry regiment. At the name plate there was his name engraved. This uniform was definitely no disguise.

"Jack?", she silently asked again.

"You shouldn't have come here, Chloe.", he silently answered. "Morris is right." The view at Renee's name on that gravestone stung in his chest.

"No, he's not. It's not your fault that she died.", Chloe said.

"She died in my arms.", he took a deep breath, hugging his legs tight to him. "She was shot lying in my bed." They sat in silence for a few moments, before he continued. "It's the first time ever that I'm here." Right after she had died he had had to disappear. Since they had forced him to join the armed forces again, one month ago, he hadn't been off duty for one single day.

Chloe sighed and hesitatingly placed her hand at his shoulder. "You know, that you can come with me, home, to our place.", she offered. "I talked to Morris."

"He's right.", Jack repeated. "I shouldn't be doing this. I just wanted to know a name, Chloe. Nothing else."

She sat there, at a loss for words, not knowing where to start. She hadn't talked to him in weeks, when so much had happened in between.

"The things you did… after Renee died…", Chloe began, "when we started to work together, to find the responsible ones behind all this...", she stammered and took a deep breath before she continued- "all the evidence was a fake. Wellington, the director of CTU was behind all this, together with President Taylor."

"Wait a moment.", Jack cut in. This story was so unbelievable to him, he couldn't believe it. "Who were these people that I went after, if they hadn't been…?"

"They were part of a conspiracy against the President Hassan and Taylor, mainly Russian. Some of them might even have been part of the mob where Renee had been undercover, but… they just used us to get them out of the way."

Jack suddenly felt like having been hit with a sledgehammer. The extent of this whole story was growing to a dimension which he had never even considered possible. He stood up and went a few steps back and forth. "Why me? Why not let somebody else do the dirty work?"

"They wanted no confidants. If something went wrong they could have always blamed it all on you and your revenge trip. It was a perfect solution for them. I found it out only a few days before all their attacks happened. I had recorded a few calls and I wanted to end it…", Chloe desperately told him, "but then everything went out of control." She watched him, as he went around her, circling the adjacent graves. His face was unreadable in the darkness. He seemed to be close to losing his mind in one second, the other second he was again calm and composed. Finally he stopped right next to Chloe and offered her his hand to help her stand up. "So it was Wellington.", he said.

"Yes."

He nodded, and then grabbed his backpack from the ground. "That was all I wanted to know, Chloe. Let's go and get you home."

"Don't you even want to know why? Why I gave them your location?", she asked, as he had already gently grabbed her arm to guide her away from here.

Jack shook his head. "No, not really. You had your reasons, for sure.", he murmured.

She saw that he didn't want her reasons because he simply didn't want to hear any more bad news. "Jack…", she began.

"No, you don't have to tell me, Chloe. I told you, I just wanted to know a name. I'm going to find this man and swear to god..."

"No, Jack, listen!", she stopped and held him back from walking, too. "Listen now! I need you to listen to that!"

He stopped and turned around, facing her. "Didn't they instruct you not to tell me?", he asked. A second later he saw how she nodded her head yes. "Why are you here then?"

"He came to me because you were the only one who had a lead to these terrorists left. Wellington forced me to give away your location. I was threatening him and Taylor with a bunch of recorded phone calls from a few days earlier. But they were suddenly threatening me and my family…", she had a hard time not to start crying. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted to sell you out.", she whispered, but tears and sobs drowned out her words. "You can't go after him. He'll know it was me who gave you his name and… and they…" she didn't even finish the sentence.

Jack stepped forward and softly hugged her. "It's alright Chloe…", he silently said to her, "I won't go after him, not like that. I'll find another way some day." He held her close for a few moments, until he finally felt she had calmed down. "Everything alight again?"

Imperceptibly she nodded a yes. "I'm so sorry for that all.", she repeated again, staring at the service ribbons at his chest.

Jack saw that she was freezing in the cold night's air. He grabbed his backpack and took out the jacket of his army combat uniform and hung it round her shoulders. "We should really get you home now.", he murmured, "before Morris becomes my worst enemy."

Chloe gladly took his jacket and showed him a little smile. "No, I think he won't become your enemy. He was long asleep when I left the house. And Jack, he doesn't know anything of this. I didn't want him to know in how much danger he and Prescott already were."

"I understand. Come on, let's go.", he said and guided her away.

Once, after a few feet, he looked back to the white gravestone, but Renee's name had already become unreadable in the darkness.


	3. Inquiry

**Inquiry**  
Wednesday, 19th September, 2018  
09:54am LT, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bolling Airforce Base, Washington DC

* * *

Her new job at the Military Intelligence Department was the kind of challenge which she had been looking for. She had been deployed to the command of a major named Saunders. Three teams were under his command. One of them, led by captain Gibbs was out in the field. They were following a promising lead to finally locate one of the headquarters of these terrorists. All the work within the last four weeks had simply consisted of finding their headquarters, which wasn't as easy as they had thought. There were still series of attacks, made by men who appeared out of the nowhere and disappeared as fast as they had come. They had no consistent pattern behind their attacks. The only visible pattern was, that they were working against the power grid, against airports, railways, bridges and everything that could paralyze the country if it was impaired. And they were doing their job well. It was impossible to protect all the facilities at one time.

She overheard a part of the radio communication, as she entered the situation room. Even Tusker was in the room along with Saunders. The wove her to come over to the other side.

Major Saunders passed a keycard and a sheet of paper on to her. "Audrey, we need information on these persons from the DOD archives. Down the hall, E552 to the right there's the server room."

"Is there anything specific that I should look for?"

"Possible connections. Possible radicalization potential.", he said and turned back to the video feed from his unit.

Audrey glanced at the at the sheet of paper as she went down the hallway to the server room. Three names were on it, but they were all members of the army. One Lieutenant and two Sergeants. She pushed the door to the room E552 and stood, in the middle of a mainframe server room. Three workstations were joined to archives server, but none of them was occupied.

Quickly she sat down and entered Saunders' keycard into the slot in front of her. The old and well known user interface appeared in front of her. Within five years time, surprisingly little had changed.

Quickly she typed in the names and pulled up the three files. She started a special program to find similarities or links. It took her a few minutes, but she finally had all the information together in one file for the major. She printed it out.

Right as she wanted to leave she had to remove the keycard. She already stretched her hand out to take it as the view at the command interface of the archive program caught her eye. She hesitated with pulling the card out.

She glanced around again, already knowing that there was nobody inside the room but her.

Hesitatingly her hands went to the keyboard again.

She glanced at her wristwatch. She'd have about two or three more minutes until Saunders and Tusker would start to ask questions.

Quickly she typed in Jack's name.

The seconds of waiting seemed like an eternity to her.

Finally, his whole file appeared on the screen in front of her. The keycard of colonel Tusker had such a high security clearance level that all parts of Jack's file were visible. It was twenty times as large as the files of the other three officers' altogether. She started to leaf through the pages but there was no chance to read all of this now.

Hurriedly she pressed the print-button and then closed the screen again.

She pulled the keycard out again and went over to the printer, instantly hoping that nobody would come in. The printer made an awfully loud noise in the otherwise so silent room.

Audrey grabbed a folder and hurriedly put all the sheets into it. Rushing by her new office, she quickly threw them into a drawer to smuggle them out of the building later on.

* * *

07:44pm LT, Washington DC

Monica, Audrey's cousin who she lived with, had gotten suspicious right at the moment when she had returned home this day. All the days before they had had dinner together, had watched TV if the power grid had been on- or had at least sat together, drinking a good glass of wine and had talked. But not today.

As Audrey had come home she had barely eaten anything, taken a bottle of water and had directly gone to the guest room where she had stayed ever since.

Monica slowly became nervous. She looked at the watch again. For more than two hours she hadn't heard anything of Audrey any more. Somehow she feared that this could be related to Audrey's new job- hadn't she been ready to take this duty?

Finally she dared to walk over to her bedroom door and hesitatingly knocked at it.

No Answer.

Monica knocked again. "Audrey?"

She didn't hear a real answer, but a muffled sob came out from the room.

Though she hated to invade Audrey's privacy like that, she pushed the door open for a little gap and dared to look inside.

As Audrey saw her appear in the doorframe, she hurriedly folded the papers from her hands and hid them away.

Monica startled, as she saw that. "I'm sorry.", she stammered, "I really didn't want to… interrupt you with anything." She looked at Audrey's face and suddenly she saw that both her checks were wet from tears.

Worriedly Monica stepped closer. "God, Audrey… honey, what's up with you?"

Audrey said nothing. But she also didn't shoo her away either as she sat down at the bed, next to her.

"Audrey, won't you tell me what's up?", Monica whispered and laid one arm around Audrey's shoulders.

Gladly Audrey gave herself into Monica's hug.

"Tell me what's so wrong.", she silently said again and her close. Monica saw the crumpled up pieces of paper which Audrey held in her left hand, partly hiding it beneath her thigh. "What have you read there?"

"I.. can't let you… read this.", Audrey breathed between her sobs, "It's confidential."

"Alright, it's alright…" She held her close and softly stroked over her hair. "Won't you at least tell me what's so bad about it?"

Audrey found no words for what she had read in this file. She wanted Monica to know, but she simply couldn't spell all these cruelties and injustices. After a while she grabbed the few pieces of paper which she had tried to hide away before. They were confidential, but not a matter of national security.

Without any words she placed the crumpled papers into Monica's hand, and then stood up to get a fresh tissue.

Slowly Monica folded the pieces of paper apart. On the uppermost corner of every sheet of paper was a state seal. She figured that these were only a few pages out of a much larger file. As she started to read, she quickly found out that this was Jack Bauer's file.

.

* * *

_Audrey hadn't found out up to now why Jack had left her after their return from China.  
Even as thy had met again, a few weeks earlier, Heller had forced Jack not to tell her.  
She'll find out on her own now. _


	4. Views, pt 1

**Restraints**  
Wednesday, 19th September, 2018  
07:50pm LT, Washington DC

* * *

Monica had a final look at Audrey, seeking her permission to read what she had placed into her hands, just a few moments ago.

Audrey stood at the window, nodding her head slowly.

Her cousin took the pages out of Jack's file and started to read, soon finding out that people from the agencies had written down some of their most grievous and painful experiences in their plain and fact-bound style.

_11__th__ of April 2013 05:38am - Police Officers J. Hoffman (9221) and A. Myrtow (5814), North L.A. department found an unconscious person, white, male, no obvious external injuries at Parkway Avenue, corner Ocean Park Blvd. The person was armed with a 9mm SIG Sauer P226 firearm, registration number X8822A-220BB and carried an official badge of the Counter Terrorist Unit Los Angeles. _

_The person was brought to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and later on identified as former agent Jack Bauer by the Counter Terrorist Unit. The formal medical report…._

Monica looked up to Audrey again. "Ocean Park Blvd- isn't that where your dad's L.A. residence was?", she asked.

Audrey nodded. "Yes. That place is only two blocks away from there."

Monica turned back to the reports. It was hard to read these fact-flooded reports and still make sense out of the whole story. Sometimes she needed to read a sentence two or three times to realize what had really been going on.

Jack had been found unconscious two days after they had returned from China, only two blocks away from Audrey's place. He had been brought to a hospital nearby but had disappeared from there only half a day later, though doctors had ordered him to stay at least for three days.

Two days later, a restraining order had been filed against him – the name of the person initiating it was no other than James Heller, her own father.

The day after, armed police officers had been ordered to Heller's residence, caused by a violation of the restraining order. But as they had arrived, Jack had already disappeared.

Two days later, Heller had called them again, but this time – it seemed – he and Jack had already had their fight, which Heller had won. The police had taken Jack with them and even put him into a holding room for the following two days. Afterwards, they released him, without any further prosecution.

About one week later, official governmental channels had started their investigations in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks which had happened recently. But their main focus was on working up internal affairs and violations of the law, by police officers and federal agents.

An official arrest warrant had been filed against Jack, but he had disappeared.

A few days afterwards he had appeared again- at the Heller residence. Police forces had surrounded the house but he had managed to make a getaway again.

This was the last time Jack had been reported to have been seen at Heller's house. All further searches for him hadn't brought any results. After a few pages, the reports said that he had most likely left the country.

Monica sighed deeply, as she brought the sheets of paper in order again and folded them together, like when she had received them from Audrey. She looked up and found her sitting at the floor, right beneath the window at the opposite side of the room.

She had calmed down. The wet tissue was still in her hands, but she didn't cry any more. Instead, she starred at the two candles at the bedside table.

After a few silent moments, she said "they all lied to me."

Monica had a look at the papers again. She didn't know if she should support Audrey's growing mindset of conspiracy, or if she should at least try to explain a possible other view. She decided on the later. "Maybe they were trying to protect you, honey."

She shook her head. "No. How should that have protected me?"

Monica stood up an slowly came over to her. "One year earlier, you nearly went into death as you were searching for that man. Maybe you… would have done that again?" She sat down next to Audrey. It seemed like she didn't want to hear any excuses.

"No.", she said again. "All they did was to stop me from asking any questions.", she murmured, and took back the papers. "Dad always told me that Jack had left me."

"Well…", Monica sighed, "It looks like he really did."

"But under what circumstances?", Audrey's voice got loud. She leafed through the pages and gave Monica the police report again, from the day when Jack had been arrested, one week after their return from China. She had already read it four times but every time she had read more between the lines. This report only captured a small part of what had really happened on that day.

"Read it again.", Audrey said to her. "And then tell me how this happened. Tell me how police officers could arrest a former federal agent who had dealt with much more severe cases. Tell me why that man ends up in prison after what happened. There's no sense in this."

Monica turned back to the report and started to read it again. She had to admit, that some things hadn't made any sense to her, as she had read them. The picture had been inconsistent at some point, but she hadn't been able to identify the flaws. More or less, it was only a bad feeling which had stayed back after reading it. The subconscious voice from within kept telling that something was missing, through the overwhelming number of facts.

_17__th__ of April 2013 02:01am – A case of armed home invasion occurred at the residence of former Secretary of Defense Mr. James Heller, Ocean Park Blvd. 211. At 01:54 Mr. Heller reported the intrusion of a former federal agent of CTU Los Angeles, Jack Bauer. Officers arrived at… _

Somehow it got clear to her, that they would never know what had really happened that night, no matter how often they'd read these reports.

* * *

Tuesday, 17th of April, 2013  
01:45am LT, the Heller Residence, Los Angeles

James Heller sat in the living room and looked at his wristwatch. Bauer functioned like clockwork. It was the fifth day in a row now, on which he had come here. He had always waited on the outside, until everyone in the house was asleep. He had found means and ways to deactivate the alarm system, which remained a mystery to Heller.

On the first day, he had found out and he had been lucky to overwhelm him.

He had waited in one of the guest rooms, with a taser gun ready. Only on the day before that, he had talked to Bauer- he had seemed like he had accepted that he had to leave Audrey for her sake. But after he had left the house, he had watched Bauer for a long time.  
Jack had stood at the railing, down at the cliffs which started directly at the edge of their yard. At first he had thought that he would do something stupid- like jumping off the cliffs, or shooting himself with his gun.  
A few times he had already looked at it very closely- in such a way that even Heller had become nervous on the inside of the house.  
But at some point, Jack hat put the gun away and had simply sat down at one of the marble benches and had stared out onto the Pacific Ocean for a long time. He had looked back to the house a few times before he had left – hours later.

Heller had known that he had changed his mind when he had put the gun away. He wouldn't stand down. He wouldn't simply leave.

At night, he had waited for him to appear. He had come through one of the roof windows and had sneaked down the stairs to the first floor, to Audrey's room. As Jack had passed by the door of the guest room where he had been hiding, he had ripped it open and had tasered him down.  
He had dragged him to his car and had thrown his unconscious body out two blocks away.

On the next morning, he had found the windows of one of the other guest rooms open. Later on they told him that Bauer had disappeared from the hospital at some point in the middle of the night.

He must have come here and had broken in again. But before dawn, he had left the house. It seemed like he had done nothing else but staying here for a few hours.

Heller had known that he would return again, so he had placed a restraining order on him and had called the police as Jack had come here again. But the two police officers were helpless against him. He had beaten one of them down and had threatened the other so badly that he could get out again.

Heller sighed and poured himself another glass of Whiskey. He needed it badly to calm himself down.  
He put the glass down and grabbed the taser gun right next to it. It was time to get over with this. This time he wouldn't be so stupid to call the police without telling them how dangerous this man was. He took his phone and called 911, already ordering them to bring along backup.

To his surprise he hadn't heard a single noise out of Audrey's room in the meantime. He had heard when Jack had arrived, an hour ago. He had trapped him today, leaving the car at a friends' place and giving Jack the impression that he wasn't home.

Heller stood up and took the gun with him, as he went upstairs. Audrey's room was just across the upstairs landing.

Taking a deep breath and screwing up all of his courage he raised the gun and let the door swing open. It was dark on the inside.

Jack sat at the floor, right next to the bed, leaning against the bedside locker. He was asleep, having clasped Audrey's hand with his. Slowly Heller stepped into the room, always holding him at gunpoint. Asleep, he almost looked peaceful, but messy. He had never known him in such a bad shape. His beard had grown and he hadn't changed clothes since the last time he had seen him. Only gradually Heller saw the traces which the stay in China had left in this man. He wasn't used to a normal life any more. He was disoriented, seemed to have no place to go and strayed around aimlessly. Audrey was the only anchor binding him to a normal life.

Carefully he stepped forward and kicked Jack in the shin.

He woke with a start. It needed a few moments before he realized where he was. A blurred picture of a man with a gun standing in front of him appeared before his eyes. He instinctively knew it was Heller.

"Do you wanna shoot me now?", he silently asked, turning to Audrey. The sleeping pills they had given her kept her peacefully sleeping.

"Only if I have to.", Heller answered. "Get up, Jack, and get out of here."

"No." Tiredly he raised his left hand and stroked over Audrey's cheek. She wasn't waking up very easily. In the last nights she had opened up her eyes only once, had looked around disoriented and hadn't even noticed him before she had fallen asleep again.

He wished so badly that she'd get better soon. All he wanted was that she'd wake up and talk to him, if only a few words.

"Get up Jack. Let her go.", Heller repeated.

"No." Jack turned to him. He didn't let go of Audrey's hand.

"That was my last warning, Jack. I swear I'll use the gun.", he hissed.

Jack snorted angrily. "Like last time?" He saw Heller's finger at the trigger. That man wasn't joking. Taking a deep breath Jack let go of Audrey's hand and grabbed the side of the bed to stand up again.

Heller watched him grab the blanket and cover her arm and her hand with it.

Any other second he touched Audrey made her father more furious.

Jack turned around, facing him. He weighed his chances, whether he would be able to overpower Heller or not. The older man read his thoughts like an open book.

"Don't even try, Jack. I already called for backup. You have no chance to get out of here another time."

Jack took his bag from the floor. He had to try to get out- simply because he hated the thought of surrendering to the police or any other agents. A last time he glanced at Audrey. She looked so peacefully. _I love you,_ he said to her, but it was only an inaudible whisper.

Heller had seen it coming, in that moment when Jack had turned to her to say goodbye.

Right as Jack had jumped around to go for him, he already pulled the trigger, taking him down with a high voltage electrical shock. He was in rage now.

Heller grabbed Jack by his collar and started to drag him out of the room. By the time they reached the upstairs landing Jack regained consciousness. Weakly and disoriented he rolled onto his back. Heller pulled the trigger again to give him another shock, but it didn't work. One of the electrodes had probably come off.

Angrily he threw the taser gun away and grabbed Jack by his shirt again. He pulled his body up and looked straight into the other's eyes. "I warned you, Jack.", he hissed. "Don't mess with me. You won't stand a chance."

Jack tried to say something, but it didn't work. The voltage shock had truly struck him down.

Heller was furious. The whole day he had seen Audrey suffer. He had seen her cry and scram, as the doctors had tried to talk to her. He had seen her suffer- the man in front of him hadn't had to go through all this with her. He grabbed Jack's collar faster.

They looked into each other's eyes.

Jack had to admit that it was hard to frighten him, after what he had been through in the last months. But the fury and the pain in Heller's eyes made him freeze. He was unable to move and unable to reply anything, as Heller started to shout at him.

"You did this to her!", he roared, "You bastard! You don't have to see what I see here every day!" He was out of his mind by now, screaming louder and louder, "She became like this only because of you!" Shouting at Jack didn't make Audrey better, but at the moment it eased his pain. He had somebody to blame.

As Jack tried to raise his arms and tried to say something the little action sent Heller over the edge. He dragged him further away from Audrey's room, and in blind rage he pushed him down the stairs.

Ghostly silence entered the scene. Heller stood at the upstairs landing, out of breath. He watched what he had done. Jack's body lay at the lower end. He didn't move.

The clock beat 2am.

Heller was gasping for air.

A very bad feeling suddenly came over him. He hadn't meant to do that- he hadn't meant to lose his self control or to really hurt Jack.

The front door got opened up suddenly, and armed police officers entered the house, their weapons drawn. Soon they spotted Jack and Heller, and knew the situation was already under control.

Two of their men went directly over to Jack and cuffed his hands even before they checked if he was ok. Their squad leader went up the stairs to Heller, asking if he was alright.

Heller nodded his head yes, still out of breath. "Yes, I'm alright.", he gasped for air, "It was self defense."

* * *

Tuesday, 17th of April, 2013  
08:10am LT, Santa Monica Police Department, Los Angeles

Jack woke up in a bed. He rubbed his eyes. A desolate room, only furnished with the bed he was lying in and a second bed appeared before his eyes. It didn't take him long to find out that this was a prison cell.

Slowly he sat up in bed. His head ached, he felt nauseous.

He sat on the bed, resting his head in his hands.

There was nobody on the outside. One side of the room consisted only of metal bars. Outside the bars he saw a small corridor, but across his room there was only another brick wall. He listened, but heard no single sound. It seemed to him, that he was the only prisoner on this corridor.

Tiredly he lay down again and closed his eyes.

He thought back, to the few moments that he had shared with Audrey the night before. It couldn't go on like this. He had to get her out of Heller's reach.  
But to get her out, he knew, he needed a better plan.

Feverishly he started to think about it.


	5. Redeployment

**Confrontation**  
Friday, 21st of September, 2018  
11:40am LT, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bolling Airforce Base, Washington DC

* * *

Audrey sat in her office, alone. The men who owned the other two office desks in this room were Major Saunders' right hand – Captain Gibbs and a Lieutenant named Bayon. But she could have rather said that it _had_ belonged to those men.

Since she was here, seven people out of Saunders' three teams had died, during the events of two missions. Gibbs and Bayon, both in the same team, had been the first to arrive at an abandoned village, which had been considered secured up to that moment. Only by chance they had tapped into this hideout of their enemies – and had paid with their lives.

Their top priority at the moment was to locate the headquarters of these terrorists. Since their unit had come back, just a few hours ago, plans were being made to get another unit into the field and search the village for any leads to their enemies. The whole department was in a frenzy of activity. Everybody was doing things twice as fast as normally – trying to get the work done until the other two teams would be ready to move in.

Saunders was still in the Situation room, debriefing the remains of Gibbs' former team. Three others were severely injured, so only three men were left at all.

It was her task to gather a set of satellite images, for the briefing and the next mission. The infrared pictures of the scene were barely usable- because they had started fires at several locations in that village, to work against the thermal satellite image.

The visible picture was not so much better. Clouds had hung over the scene for the last few days, so the last usable satellite image was more than three days old. That was not very reliable, but still the best they had.

Audrey was glad that she had such a lot of work. It distracted her from what lay in the lowest drawer of her desk – Jack's file. As the thought of it crossed her mind she stopped working for a moment and looked at the locked drawer. She would have loved to open it and have a look at the file right away. But she withstood the temptation. Sighing deeply she turned back to the satellite images.

She couldn't get the file out of her head any more. The two days before, she had smuggled parts of the confidential document out of here, to read them at home. The first time, it had only happened because she hadn't found the time during the day to take a look at it. In the aftermath, it had been a good decision not to read it here, because it had really moved her to tears. She would have had an awful lot of explaining to do if somebody here had found her in that stadium, or if Saunders found out that she had used his keycard to steal Jack's file.

Audrey smirked. That was her private secret mission. She had only taken the job here to find out where Jack was- and that file was a great start. One of the last pages had been a document which he had signed a month ago- an employment contract with the army. As a matter of fact, the document was dated on the exact same date when she had seen him for the last time. Events had gone quickly that day. She had seen that his actual place of duty should have been Washington DC, but he went into Bakersfield for another time and was then transferred to San Diego. That were the last entries, three weeks ago.

She kept thinking what might had happened in the meantime. All of their administration was pretty much a mess right now. It was no wonder that nobody had updated Jack's file in the past three weeks. There were far more important things to do.

_Focus, damn it,_ she told herself, as she turned back from the file to the satellite images. She printed them out five time and also put them on a flash drive and on their server. Hurriedly she got up and took the papers along, heading for the situation room.

Saunders already spotted her. Instead of waiting for her to come in he left the three men in there and came out onto the floor, approaching Audrey halfway. He noticed that her view was fixed at the three men in the room which she saw through the glass walls.

"They need a bit of time for their own now.", Saunders said to Audrey, guiding her away. "Let's go back to your office."

On the way, she gave him the satellite and infrared scans, and they talked about the general situation. Audrey noticed with satisfaction, that he liked her work.

By the time they reached the door to her office, everything was already settled. He gave her a new part of the coverage area, which she should take care of.

Audrey went inside, as Sauders' voice suddenly stopped her. "Ms. Anderson, do you know a man named Jack Bauer?"

She stopped in the middle of the way, her back still turned to him. It was good – this way he didn't see that she suddenly turned all pale. "Jack Bauer?", she asked. Quickly she went the last two steps over to her table and sat down. Her knees were shaking by now.

"Yes. I saw on my protocol log that you pulled up his file.", he mentioned, still looking at the satellite image. He wasn't interested in the file-topic as much as Audrey was frightened by now.

A thousand possible explanations or excuses came across her mind, and she was desperately sorting them out to find the most credible of them.

"Why did you need that one?", he asked, and finally looked up from the satellite images.

At a sudden, all of her mind was empty. All the explanations had disappeared- all but one. No matter if that would be the most believable or not, she had to answer him, right away.  
"You wanted me to look for possible candidates, for a fourth team.", she answered, wondering herself how calm her voice sounded. "I've worked with him before." She deliberately missed a few of the details – like that she had a personal relationship to that man.

Saunders seemed satisfied with her answer. "Thank you for looking, Ms. Anderson.", he mentioned and was already about to leave again as he turned back for another time. "I saw you printed it out- could you give me that copy? I'd like to give it a look."

"Of course" Audrey answered. She was so glad right now that she hadn't smuggled the whole file out of here already. But as she realized, that probably a third of all the pages in Jack's file was missing, she got really frightened. Her hands trembled as she bowed down to open up the lowest drawer and as she pulled the folder out.

Thank god, Saunders had come over to her desk. She wouldn't have managed to stand up and bring it over to him.

Calmly she handed him the file.

He hadn't realized anything of what was going behind her calm façade.

Saying a short _thank you_, Saunders took the remains of Jack's file along, leaving Audrey back speechless and trembling.

Immovably she sat at her desk. He whole body was shaking. She felt the adrenaline rushing through her, the fear of getting caught, the pulse hammering loud inside her veins. Above it all, she had lost her lead to find Jack again.

* * *

1 day later

Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
06:25am LT, Fort Alexandria, Virginia

The messenger carrying a letter from the command had caught him totally off guard. It was just past six in the morning. He had arrived at the locker room in the main building of 22nd infantry regiment just a few minutes ago and was getting ready to move out. This was his first day here, after having come back from his two days leave.

He stood somewhere in the middle of the room, surrounded by the busy men of four platoons which all were under his command. He was proud that since the day he come here as their commander, they hadn't had any losses at all. However, this unit was not really on the front line. They patrolled some of the streets in the suburbs of Alexandria, Washington DC and Annapolis, to keep the civil riots at bay and to restore some kind of law and order.

One month ago, as Heller had forced him to join the army again – instead of getting locked up in jail – he had sent him back to the zones around the city of Bakersfield, where civil war like scenes had been worst. He had stayed there for three days before orders had come to be transferred to San Diego, where he had met Heller again.

Jack had never thought that Heller would ever find any nice words or actions for him- but he definitely had.  
He remembered the three days that he had spent with Audrey, a month ago, as he had rescued her.  
Finally, Heller had rewarded him for saving his daughter, by transferring him here to Washington DC, to this unit.  
Jack was fully aware, that the position he was in right now was one of the best he could have within the army. They weren't facing any severe trouble or fights, wherever they were sent to. Transferring him here had been Heller's thanks for Audrey. He had gladly accepted it.

As the messenger gave him the envelope from the command- addressed to him personally, he had simply put it away and had finished putting on his ACU first. He ordered his first sergeant to tell the four team leaders to get ready to move out.

He sat down at one of the benches in the middle of the room to open up the envelope.

As he saw the seal of the Ministry of Defense he already feared some bad news to come. He started to read it through and turned pale. They were about to transfer him to a Military Intelligence Unit.

The sheet of paper in his hands he stayed sitting there, as the others were already leaving the room.

A while later his assistant and First Sergeant, Armstrong came back. He found him sitting alone in the empty locker room. He spotted at first sight that something was not alright.

Slowly he approached. "Captain?"

Jack needed a moment to react. "Yes?" He stood up.

"Jack, the men are ready to go.", Armstrong told him, expecting him to come with him.

But Jack only nodded slowly, as he folded the letter and put it away. But instead of going to his men he opened his locker again and put his helmet in. He started to open up the fasters at his outer tactical vest and opened up the waistband around it.

Armstrong confusedly looked at him. "Jack?"

"Looks like I'm not coming with you.", he silently remarked. He put the vest and his rifle back into the locker, in return for his bag, which he took out again.

He sighed, turning back to Armstrong. "Lieutenant Blair is in command until they'll assign my replacement. I'm being transferred."

Armstrong was flabbergasted. "What? Why?", he stammered, "And where?" In the short time since he knew Jack, they had become rather good friends. Nearly all officers of 22nd regiment lived in the base housing here at Fort Alexandria. They had become a good team and it was absolutely unexplainable why anyone out of their command would rip that configuration apart.

"I'm going to D.C. right away, Defense Intelligence Agency, department of Military Intelligence.", Jack answered him.

Armstrong's eyes widened with excitement. "MI? I applied for that."

Jack looked back for a last time if he had forgotten anything, and then started on his way, slowly passing by Armstrong. A sad smile was on his lips, as he placed his hand on the other's shoulder for a short moment. "Believe me, there are places you don't want to be.", he murmured, looking into his eyes, "that's one of them." That was the only advice he gave to his First Sergeant. Armstrong was an ambitioned young gun but hadn't seen any of the real bad situations yet. He was at least fifteen years younger than him and chances were good that he'd have enough time to see the worst moments of fighting someday in his career.

But Jack was glad that the MI department had not recruited that boy. This was not an easy job. It was more or less a suicide mission to be working there, he feared.

As he left the building to get on his way over to the Defense Intelligence Agency Headquarters at Bolling Airforce Base, he instinctively knew that somebody was responsible for his redeployment.

At the moment only three names crossed his mind- Heller, Wellington or President Taylor, who wanted to revoke his reprieve, by making him go into certain death.

.

.

* * *

_The period of grace is over... let's get Jack back into action...  
And Audrey, too... _


	6. Briefing

**Briefing **  
Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
09:14am LT, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bolling Airforce Base, Washington DC

* * *

As her phone rang, Audrey picked it up at once. It was Major Saunders, telling her to come to the situation room. She stood up and left her room almost immediately, not even locking the drawers at her desk. Since her secret with Jack's file was out, anyway, she had nothing left to hide.

The situation room was located down the hallway. It was a pretty open room, glass walls at three sides of it, and on the other side a set of large screens. From far, she could see that Major Saunders was in there, along with Colonel Tusker sitting next to another officer whom she couldn't identify, because he had turned his back to her. Saunders had spotted her from far and was waving his hand, showing her to come in.

As she opened up the glass door, Tusker and the other stood up at once.

"Ms. Anderson.", Tusker greeted her, with a little smile, after fastening up his jacket. They hadn't met again since Audrey's job interview.

She went past them to the other side of the long table to sit down, as she got a glimpse of the man next to Tusker. He had also buttoned up his jacket and had stood up to greet her.

"Audrey.", Jack said to greet her, calm and collected. He wasn't nearly as shocked as she was right now.

She grabbed herself a chair and quickly sat down; otherwise she wouldn't have managed to keep at her feet either.  
With disbelief she starred at him. He was right over there.  
He made a composed impression, as if he had been prepared for her appearance. But there was no sign of at least a little smile on his face. He acted distant.

Audrey could help staring at him. He had changed a lot. His hair was cut very short- in this uniform, military style. He wore a green service uniform, just like on the day when she had seen him for the last time.  
The unit patches on his right shoulder showed he had been assigned to 5th battalion of 22nd infantry regiment, but the place for the patches on his left shoulder were empty. No current assignment. She feared the worst to come- that he'd be assigned to Military Intelligence.

The few seconds whom she speechlessly eyed him felt like a whole year to her. Eventually, her gaze went from his uniform up to his eyes again.  
He still sat there, not showing any reaction to her. No smile, no other words. Even as she tried to put a little smile on, he kept a cold stare at her.

Audrey said nothing. She couldn't have – fearing, her voice would crack.

Jack turned away, to Saunders again, signaling him to go on with the briefing.

By the way the three of them were talking, it dawned on her, that the worst had already come. They had ordered Jack to come here. This was not a simple interview- they were far beyond that point. They were actually doing a mission briefing there.

"Ms. Anderson?", Major Saunders asked for a second time.

She jerked, as she heard him say her name. "Yes?"

"Did you... read the situation report?", he asked again.

"Yes. Yes, I did. I read it yesterday evening.", she stammered.

"Good. Then you maybe like to know that Captain Bauer is here to replace Captain Gibbs and to take over his unit. I guess you two have met before.", Saunders told her.

She was still speechless, staring at him.

"Yes, we have.", Jack cut in, as she saw that she was way to thunderstruck to answer.

"Alright." Saunders took the folder in front of him into his hands and had a look at it. "Do you need anything else?", he asked.

Jack said no.

Saunders turned back to Audrey. "Ms. Anderson, I'd like you to review the protocols for the upcoming missions with Captain Bauer. You'll be leading all communication through here."

She nodded her head and stammered _yes_ after a short look at Jack.

Slowly Saunders and Tusker were beginning to realize how changed she was.

She tried even harder, to hide her sudden upcoming emotions.

"I think we should give them some time to finish the plans.", Tusker said to Saunders and stood up. Saunders closed the folder again. Walking by, he gave the papers to Jack. "I'll be back with the team in a short while."

They all stood up. Jack took the papers from Saunders and they shook hands again, as he and Tusker left the room.

The door closed behind them, leaving them both back alone in the room.

Jack slowly turned back to Audrey.  
He watched her silently. She stood on the other side of the large table, in front of the concrete wall with the large screens. None of them said anything.

Audrey didn't dare to go over to him. She didn't dare to say one word.

"I never thought it would be _you._", Jack finally spoke. It definitely sounded like an accusation. "I thought of everyone. CTU, your father, President Taylor, Russians…", he began, "but not you."

Audrey realized that he must have talked to Tusker before. He had already known about her, as she had entered this room. Otherwise he wouldn't have been so calm and composed. She started to walk around the table, over to him. "Jack… you've got to believe me, I didn't want that to happen."

"Why have you done it then, Audrey?" He took a deep breath. "Tusker told me it was you who recommended me for this unit."

She had no answer to that. Yes, it had been her. She definitely was the reason why he was here. "I didn't want that to happen, Jack."

He watched he closely, standing only a few feet away. She looked as gorgeous as ever. Wearing one of her good suits, her nice makeup and this beautiful loose blond hair, there was no way in which he could be not moved by her appearance. But he was far from being happy.

Audrey could read his thoughts well. He had showed her no smile. Desperately she tried to convince him, that this all was a great misunderstanding. "I didn't want that to happen. It was an accident."

"Whatever.", he answered, turning to the desk again. He pulled a chair back to sit down. "Take a seat."

Audrey pulled the chair next to him back. "Jack", she pleaded and leant forward to grab his arm with her hand.

Jack whirled around. "Stop it, Audrey!", he hissed.

Frightened she let go of his arm. She saw the fury in his eyes as he shoved her hand away.

"Stop doing that.", he repeated, directly looking into her eyes. "I don't know what you've told them about us, Audrey, but they don't seem to know anything. You know we're getting into a lot out trouble if they find out."

"Jack…", she began, but very soon she saw that he was not in the mood for any kind words. "I just wanted to tell you how this all happened…", she desperately wanted to tell him something that would lessen his anger.

"Audrey, stop it.", he said again. He saw her close to tears, knowing that it was his fault. He looked around, through the glass walls. Out there was a large office, crowded with people. Some of them were already looking at him and Audrey.

Jack took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He didn't want to see her cry, just as much as he hadn't got the heart to be kind to her. "Audrey," he silently said to her, "We have no time for this now. We'll talk later." He turned back to the files on the desk.

Audrey took a deep breath and did so, too. Though he was talking business now, she could read from his face that a good part of his thoughts was somewhere far away. He was just as restless about their whole situation as she was. The only difference was, that he was hiding it far better.

Jack took one of the satellite images and showed it to her. "Saunders suggested we go into that village from south. I'm with him." He took a pen and drew a few lines into the map on which he planned to search the houses. "I need you to take an infrared image now and when we move out. Although there are fires, I think we'll see some of the smaller dots moving. That's the best we have."

She took the paper from him.

Jack saw her hands tremble.

He took a deep breath and put the pen aside. Once more he looked outside the room, and couldn't help feeling watched. Otherwise he would have loved to go over to her and talk about the things which really were on his mind. Audrey briefly wiped over her face and then had a look at the sheet of paper. "I'll get the satellite image right away.", she answered, and sniffed. "The overlay shouldn't be a big problem." She couldn't look at him any longer. Hectically she stood up and turned away, to get back her composure. "We'll get you the updates over the radio. What sequence do you suggest?"

"We'll start at the southwest corner. That's the highest terrain. Probably we'll find a sniper whom we can take down. Then we'll go on south-north pattern, down the slope. Exit due south, in case of an emergency. What's the weather forecast?"

She leafed through the pages. "Some local orographic thunderstorms are possible, with a forty percent probability."

* * *

Colonel Tusker and Major Saunders stood among the others, outside in the large office and were watching Jack and Audrey.

"What do you think?", Tusker asked. "Yes or no?"

"Yes.", Saunders answered, without even thinking. They had been watching for quite a while, to find out if Ms. Anderson and Captain Bauer had been more than just colleagues before.

"Do you think that it will jeopardize the mission?"

Saunders shook his head. "No. But I'll make a move if this happens."

"Good.", Tusker answered. "Keep me updated. I just wanted a good team for once. Let's give this a try.", he murmured and then went off.

Saunders went over to his office, where the rest of Captain Gibbs' team and three new men were waiting for him.

* * *

_One hour later_

With shaky knees Audrey approached the locker room in the basement of the building. Their three platoons were getting ready right now.

She had the final papers for them, with the newest reports and the most recent satellite images. But she didn't dare to enter the room.  
As one of the other men came out, she asked him to send Jack out to her.

Impatiently she leant against the concrete walls inside the hallway. As much as she wished him to come out soon, the same she feared to talk to him. Now they were not facing each other with everyone else looking. She feared to face Jack being angry and furious.

Finally, he came out, already wearing the full gear, a rifle and a large backpack.

Silently she handed him the papers.

He took them and leafed through the pages, saying nothing at all.

Audrey couldn't stand the silence any longer. "Jack…", she began, "I really need to talk to you."

Taking a deep breath he looked up into her eyes. "About what?"

"About this all."

He gave her back the papers and slightly shook his head. "There's nothing to talk about, Audrey.", he coldly answered. "I thought of everyone. Not you."

Although she knew how highly inappropriate it sounded, she said "I'm so sorry."

He simply couldn't believe her. "I almost had my life back, Audrey.", he murmured, before he shouldered his gear and left her back alone, as he went away, accompanied by his unit.


	7. Approach

**Approach **  
Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
12:58pm LT, Blue Ridge, Virginia

* * *

The village was nothing else than a ghost town.  
Jack sat in the front passenger seat of their Humvee and had a close look around. Four weeks earlier, not far from here a major bomb had been detonated- of which it was still not clearly determined if it had been nuclear or not. He knew it hadn't been nuclear. So did Audrey.

They were equipped with Geiger counters, but they still read zero.

Two days ago, his predecessor, Captain Gibbs, and his unit had been ambushed right here, on a routine patrol. He told the driver to slow down. The other teams had been sent here and had reported that the town was abandoned now. They had searched every one of the adjacent houses, finding them empty. There hadn't even been cartouches, except for the shots which had been fired by Gibbs' men.

He had a large map of the area in front of him. They were still on the interstate route, but the other two units should be waiting for them at one of the next crossings. Finally, he saw them.

"Audrey, we've got them in sight.", he said into the COM unit. Via a satellite phone at his belt he was connected directly to the Intelligence headquarters.

"We've got you on the satellite image.", she answered. "We're starting the comparison now. I'll send you an updated picture."

They had made a series of thermal scans within the last minutes. Feverishly she started to analyze and compare them. A team of data analysts was working for her.  
Audrey turned back to the large screens with a sigh. The whole area was still overcast with clouds. The visual satellite image was useless. The thermal scan showed a lot of fires. Both, Jack's and the other teams had confirmed the places where some houses or other things were at fire. They appeared as large, bright dots on her screen.

One other large dot was moving quite fast through the picture- it was their car, deliberately meeting the other two units right now at the middle of the town.

She read the message from one of their data analysts, depicting a small red dot, next to one of the large fires. It had moved, as Jack's unit had come.

"You've got a spectator. He's on the northern side of the freeway, corner 1st street and Oak drive.", she said.

The leader of one of the others team replied to be on the look-out for the man. A few minutes later he replied. "We've got him. Shall we take him down?"

"Not yet.", Jack replied via the COM unit, as they arrived where the other two units already waited for them. He went over to the other Commander to have a look at the newest infrared pictures. In the middle of all the chaos, he could clearly see their enemy spotter.

"He's going to report something. When he starts moving, identify his direction and then take him down."

The two men on the opposite nodded and took the street map with them.

"Audrey, are you still there?", he asked over the COM unit.

"Yes", she answered. She sat in the conference room, watching the infrared satellite pictures from the scene. One of the small white dots was Jack. She tried to identify him. "What do you need, Jack?"

"I need the satellite images and the terrain maps from the place where this man flees to. You're the first one to see it and I need them really fast.", he said.

"Alright, I'll call you, Jack.", she answered and leant back into her chair. Hearing his voice disturbed her more than she wanted to admit.  
She was alone in the room. Saunders was on the outside, in the corridor, on the phone. He was running up and down restlessly.

* * *

"Sir, may I ask you why you have this apprehension? Is there anything I'd need to know?", Saunders asked over the phone.

"I have my reasons. As far as I know, you are the one who requested Captain Bauer to be transferred to your unit?"

"Yes Sir."

"Did you perform a background check?"

"Yes Sir. Scope according to the circumstances. I read his file."

"Were you also responsible for the hiring of Mrs. Anderson, from your tactical office?"

Saunders hesitated for a moment. He looked through the glass panes at Audrey. Now he realized it. This call had to do with Bauer and Anderson. They both knew each other from before. "No, Sir. Colonel Tusker is responsible for the hiring of external advisers."

"Can you get me Colonel Tusker on the phone?"

"Yes Sir, right away. Please stay on the line." Saunders hectically paced down the hallway, to Tuskers office. He entered the room and offered Tusker to take the cordless phone. "A call for you Sir."

Tusker stood up. He read from Saunders' face that it was not a pleasant call to take. "Who is this?", he silently asked Saunders as he reached out for the phone.

"Secretary of Defense Heller."

Tusker was already tensed up as he answered the call. "Sir. This is Colonel Tusker speaking."

"Is it right that you instated a woman named Audrey Anderson, Colonel Tusker?", he asked.

"Yes Sir, and I'm aware she's your daughter. We talked about that during her interview."

Saunders froze, as he listened to that phone call. Audrey was the daughter of the secretary of defense? That fact answered even less question as it brought new ones into his mind. He only heard Tusker's end of the phone conversation, but he had already heard Heller's angry mood over the phone as he had talked to him himself.

"Alright, then you maybe also know about her involuntary stay in China.", Heller said.

"I do, Sir. Permit me to remark that your daughter is a remarkable personality. I talked about that issue with her, during her interview and I definitely came to the conclusion that this is not to interfere with her work her. The expert opinion she brought to me also…"

"That is not exactly the point, Colonel Tusker.", Heller interrupted him. "Only a few days later a Captain named Jack Bauer was transferred to your unit?"

"Just today morning.", Tusker answered.

"Did my daughter have her hands in the decision to bring Captain Bauer to your unit?", Heller asked, already knowing the answer. This couldn't be a coincidence.

Tusker put the phone aside for a moment, asking Saunders "How did you find Captain Bauer for this unit?"

"I got his file from Ms. Anderson. She recommended him."

Tusker took a deep breath. These were no good news. He brought the phone to his ear again. "Sir, your daughter recommended Captain Bauer for this unit. I'm in the room with Major Saunders, he is responsible for Bauer's unit. May I put you on speaker?"

"Go ahead.", Heller answered.

Tusker put the phone down to the table and put it on speaker. "You're on the line now with Major Saunders from Military Intelligence."

"Major Saunders, did you perform a background check on Captain Bauer before you instated him?", Heller asked.

Saunders stood up straight, as if this were a inspection. It was just a phone call but Heller's authority was uncontested. "Yes, Sir, I did. Ms. Anderson gave me Captain Bauer's papers for that purpose."

Heller said nothing for a moment. He angrily ran around in his office and as he heard that sentence slammed his fist against the nearest wall. Now it all got clear to him. If Audrey had given Saunders Jack's papers it was hardly surprising, that they hadn't found out about the relation of her and Jack.

"Sir, is there anything we should know?", Tusker asked, as he didn't hear anything from Heller.

He regained his composure gradually. "Yes, there is, definitely. I can't go into any details, Colonel, but Bauer was also involved in this China issue. They know each other pretty well and I honestly fear… that her objectivity could be impaired if it comes to that person."

Right in that moment, Saunders got another call on his mobile phone. He instantly switched it to the silent mode, but glanced at the display. _Situation room,_ it read. He looked up at Colonel Tusker. "It's the room, Secretary Heller's daughter calling.", he said, so silently, that only Tusker would hear it.

"Mr. Secretary, Major Saunders is receiving an important call from an ongoing mission.", Tusker said to Heller. "It's from your daughter. She's coordinating an ongoing field operation right now."

"Alright. Major Saunders, thank you for you time.", he dismissed him, "Colonel Tusker, would you please pick up the phone again?"

As Saunders left, Tusker switched the speaker off again, lifting up the phone to his ear. "Sir?"

Heller was uncomfortable about this. "Colonel, I want you to keep an eye on her, can you do that for me? I fear her decisions about Captain Bauer are not going to be rational. I'm sending you the papers over for a transfer. I want her out of this unit."

Colonel Tusker took a deep breath. "Of course, Sir.", he answered. The secretary of defense was requesting a personal favor from him. There was no way to say no. "I'll go over to the situation room to keep an eye on this."

* * *

The scout had fled to the north, to their surprise. Audrey had sent the maps of the northern region to Jack's PDA and right now he was just about to alter their whole plan. She had needed to call Saunders to seek his permission.

The Humvees were already moving north. They had taken the spotters down.

"How did you get the idea to change an existing protocol out of the nowhere?", Saunders angrily asked Jack over the COM unit. After that conversation with Heller he looked at things from a different point of view. Bauer had thrown over all their plans and she had gone along, most likely not even asking any questions.

"It was the only right thing to do. We had several speculations about their position, the northern one is the most likely one.", Jack answered. "Look at the satellite images."

Saunders went over to Audrey. She showed him three possible locations on her screen. "Why that one?", he brusquely asked.

Colonel Tusker came into the room.

"Captain Bauer just threw over all our protocols and plans.", Saunders informed him.

"Why?" Tusker also went over to them to look at Audrey's screen. He grabbed a headset. "Captain Bauer, would you please explain this."

"The man fled direction north. We had jammed all the radio signals. He couldn't have told them we're coming. He has to go to them."

Audrey zoomed into a place in the woods with four rather large houses. "That's the place he was heading for. They took him down by now."

Saunders was still not happy about the new plan. "Do we have a thermal scan of the area? Are there even people?", he asked.

Audrey hesitated for a second. He was suddenly so changed. She had only known him as a nice person. But since a few moments he was acting strangely different. "Is there anything wrong, Sir?", she dared to ask.

"Would you please just do what you're told?", he snapped at her and sat down.

Tusker chastised him with a harsh view.

Audrey knew by now, that there was something going on that she didn't know anything about. She pulled up the thermal scan and showed them on the large monitors at the wall. "The picture shows four houses, surrounded by a forest fire.", she explained the bright white dots that overshadowed almost all of the thermal image. There was not much to see.

"A forest fire?", Tusker skeptically asked. "It rather looks like these houses are going to burn down soon, what makes you guess there might be someone?", he asked. "We don't even see at the thermal image if there is somebody there at all!", he complained.

Audrey was prepared for that question. "We know." That was exactly that, what she and Jack had talked about during their briefing. "I want you to look at that picture.", she said and projected another image at the screen. "This was taken three weeks ago."

She put another image at the second screen. "This was taken two weeks ago.", she remarked.

Tusker and Saunders sat there in silence, comparing the satellite images.

"They all look the same.", Saunders finally remarked.

Audrey stood up and went around the table. She pointed at several irregularities in the images. "This is not a forest fire, it's a fake. They knew we were going to make satellite analyses of all possible regions. Through the fire, our computers didn't find these houses occupied. But they definitely are.", she said.

A little smile came across Tusker's face. He could see it now as well. The fire wasn't moving. It wasn't touching the rest of the forest. It was just as large to make a precise thermal image impossible and small enough not to be a burden to them.

"Good work, Ms. Anderson.", he remarked.

Saunders turned around to him in surprise. After their conversation with Heller, he had been so full of prejudice against her that he had never considered it possible that she was actually doing a good job.

"What's your ETA on the place, Captain?", Tusker asked over the COMM.

"Fifteen minutes. We're leaving the cars back here and we have to approach by foot through the woods. I sent the other two units to cover the two exit roads."

"Understood.", Tusker answered. He put the headset down again and stood up. "Call me when they arrive there.", he said to Audrey before he left the room.

Saunders had a final look at her, but then he stood up and followed Tusker to the outside. "Sir. What's the point of that?", he asked. "Do we really trust her and Bauer with this mission, after what we just learned?"

Tusker turned around to him. "No matter what the Secretary said, we're going to have an eye on them anyway. But what I just learned was that she and Bauer are doing a great job. Now get on with your work and help her coordinate the two other teams.", he commanded.

Saunders was taken aback. "Of course, Sir.", he stammered and went back into the situation room.


	8. Access

_Okay, I need to set some things straight in this chapter - Especially the relations and the loyality between all the ones involved.  
Sorry that I updated less quickly lately... _

_Next Chapter will be up soon..._

**.**

**Access**  
Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
01:34pm LT, Blue Ridge, Virginia

* * *

Jack crouched down behind a group of trees. He held up his fist, signaling all members of his unit to stop and take cover.

"We're there.", he whispered into the COMM unit.

"We can't provide you with any better information, Jack.", Audrey answered. "Not even you appear at the thermal image any more. We've tried to filter the fire, but it's too large. We can't identify anything."

"Alright. I've got three men in sight. We're taking them down and then we enter the western house on the ground floor."

She felt the adrenaline rising, though she wasn't even there. "Alright." After checking with Saunders, she said to him. "Go ahead."

Saunders watched her closely. He could see her being nervous. She didn't let it show that she worried about that man. She was doing everything with her usual aplomb. But he didn't get less conspicuous after what he had heard from Heller. He kept her in sight.

At the live satellite feed they didn't see anything useful. They had seen the team approach through the woods, but now their small yellow spots had disappeared under the bright yellow spot from the fire.

* * *

Jack watched the two men at the balcony of the house through his monocular. They both carried weapons. Another one was down in the garden behind the house, smoking a cigarette. It had been a long and tiring way up the hills through the rough terrain. But they had finally reached the houses.

He gave the order to take them down.

From somewhere behind him, three bullets came flying out of the woods without making a sound. They were both hit in their heads and toppled down.

He put the monocular away and took his assault rifle. Nodding to the sergeant next to him, he stood up. Their men came out of their covers and began to move towards the house. Seventy yards to go.

Jack didn't realize that two men in their chain were missing.

* * *

Saunders, Tusker and Audrey listened carefully to what they heard over the radio. Since the satellite images were useless the only updates they got were from Jack and his first sergeant, a man named Rubens.

As Saunders' mobile phone rang, he stood up and went outside. Tusker and Audrey didn't see the caller's name.

"Sergeant Rubens?", Saunders silently asked. "Why are you calling? Aren't you in the field?"

"Yes, I am. I am a hundred yards behind the front line. Listen up, I have the carrier of our environmental protection gear with me. He has the Geiger counter. The readout here is awfully high. It is above 200 micro sievert per hour."

"Did you inform your Captain about this?", Saunders hurriedly asked, "or shall I?"

"No, I already did. He ordered the men to go on. Most of them did but we're skeptical. This is suicide. Do something about this."

"Thank you Sergeant for the information. I'll see what I can do.", he answered and ended the call.

Putting the headset back on he entered the situation room again.

"Captain Bauer?", he loudly asked over the radio.

Audrey and Tusker turned around surprised.

They all heard Jack silently answering. The rustling was louder than his voice as he spoke _yes_.

"Captain Bauer, can you confirm a high readout on your Geiger counter?"

Jack was in the middle of the approach to the settlement. He took cover behind a tree again and raised his fist to stop the men. "Sir, this moment is highly inappropriate. We're a few yards away from reaching the target. And yes, I was informed."

Tusker stood up, approaching Saunders. "What is this going to be?", he hissed at Saunders, covering the microphone of his headset.

"I got a call from Sergeant Rubens.", Saunders replied. "The men are worried."

Tusker took a deep breath and thought for a moment. "Captain, can you explain this?", he asked Jack over the radio.

Jack crouched behind the group of trees. He kept the house in sight and looked around, to see where the two men at his left and right flank were. "I got informed about the readout. I ordered to continue with the raid." He took the monocular again. One road went from the westerly house down to the three other houses. Right now he saw how the front door of the easterly house got opened up and a man went out. "We've already started to move in. If you want us to abort say it now.", he hissed.

"How high was the readout.", Tusker asked.

"Above 200 micro Sievert. I ordered to continue."

"Based on WHAT?", Tusker roared.

Now Audrey interfered. "There are men in this building. They already identified them to be high probability targets. They wouldn't be there if that radioactivity readout was life threatening."

Tusker was clearly angry. "You", he pointed at Audrey, "Stand up and come with me.", he hissed. "And you", he pointed at Saunders, "keep coordinating this mission. They shall continue."

Without any more words he left the room, almost pushing Audrey to the outside in front of him.  
He slammed the door shut behind them.

"What game are you and Bauer playing?", he directly asked her. "You come here. You both throw over all the plans and now you're risking the lives and the health of all these men just for a reconnaissance mission?"

"Yes.", Audrey answered. "What's suddenly so wrong with this?" She stood, facing him, her arms akimbo. "There's something you don't tell me."

Tusker looked directly into her eyes. He was facing a strong woman over there. She was highly educated, she was skilled and vigorously standing behind this mission. "I got a phone call from your father.", he began, "he warned us that you would… not make very rational decisions if they involved Captain Bauer."

Champing with rage she turned away. "That's ridiculous.", she angrily snorted. She buried her face in her hands. _This can't be true,_ she said to herself. After the things she had read in Jack's file, this was definitely "What did he tell you?"

"Not much. Just that your objectivity may be impaired." Tusker watched her back. He saw her shoulders rise and sink as she breathed deeply.

He gave her a few moments to calm down.

"Audrey?", he silently asked. It was the first time he called her by her first name.

She took a deep breath and wiped over her face before she turned back to him. "Yes?"

"Did you know about this readout?", he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, I knew."

"Why did you let him go on with this? He could also get severely injured.", he told her. "Did you… not even inquire because it was… him?"

Audrey bitterly smiled. "No. A month ago…", she breathed, "… I was in the city of Bakersfield."

He was astounded. "I read nothing about this in your file."

She sighed. "There was no report. I was there when these bombs went off."

"The nuclear ones?"

Audrey shrugged. "I don't think they were nuclear. We would be dead by now if these bombs had been nuclear. We stayed in the city for over 48 hours after the explosion."

"Who is 'we'?", he interrupted.

"Jack and me.", Audrey silently answered. "He rescued me. If you… talked to my father, I can assume what he told you. But that's not right." She sniffed, and fought hard to get back her composure. Finally, she got the control over her emotions back. The rage at her father drowned out the fear for Jack. "I'm not risking the life of our men, Colonel. I'm not risking Jack's life the same as I would not jeopardize the mission to save his life either." She grid her teeth, determined to convince her opposite. "In Bakersfield, we were pretty close to the location of the detonation. We would have never survived this stay, if these bombs had really been nuclear. On our getaway we found some evidence indicating that these men deliberately dispersed radioactive material to build the impression of a nuclear attack."

Tusker wasn't very convinced. "Why the hell should they do this? And why was there no report?"

"Isn't that obvious? That way is the best to shield their bases of operation. There's no better way to keep people out than to stage a nuclear attack.", she answered. "Why else would they waste three nuclear bombs on non-worthy targets? These places weren't really highly populated. They could have made far worse things."

Her last words had made him think. "Alright.", Tusker murmured. "But why was there no report?"

Audrey shrugged. "I don't know. Ask my father when he calls you. I was out of the game when I got out of the city. Thereafter I lost sight of Jack and the mission."

Tusker saw a woman who didn't quite fit Heller's description. She was sovereign, she was thinking clearly and she had definitely made a decision based on evidence, at the same time rather risking Bauer's life than trying to protect him. "Let's continue with this. Resume your post."

A little smile flit across her face, thanking him for his trust.  
She was already about to go back to the situation room as his voice stopped her. "Mrs. Anderson?"

"Yes?", she turned around.

"I told you at your initial interview that I'd not prejudice you because of your father. Let's stick to this." Tusker said with a little smile. He was fascinated by this woman.

"Thank you, Sir.", she answered, realizing he was at her side and not at her father's.

Cheered up by new hope she got back into the room.

The sound of gunfights drowned out everything else on the radio. She had sat down next to Saunders again, the headset in her ear. She listened to fights, but without a satellite image they couldn't make much sense out of what they heard. Jack and his team had charged the westerly house, killing probably four enemies without resistance. But now they were stuck in a major gunfight, in the most northern building. The schematics showed it to be a large house with at least three flats and an expanded storeroom or garage.  
But in the end, it just showed that they had been right with their decision. They had found the right place.

"Two cars are trying to escape.", Saunders said to her.

"I'll coordinate with the northern team.", she answered. This was about to turn into a huge fight.


	9. Basement

**Basement**  
Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
01:51pm LT, Blue Ridge, Virginia

* * *

Jack had drawn his gun. Most of the others were still using their assault rifles, but he chose to use a smaller weapon to search the basement of the main building.

Since a few moments they knew that this location was definitely they place that they had been looking for.

They were facing severe resistance by now. The northern house and the second one had been fairly easy to capture. Meanwhile they had two captives already.

But the resistance in the main building was overwhelming.

Jack leant his back against the cold concrete wall and looked to his right. A soldier whose name he didn't even know was covering his back.

He pointed at the door down the hallway.  
The other soldier nodded his head yes.

Slowly they started to creep down the hallway. Noises came out of the room behind that door.

But they had got no schematics of that building.

Jack took his position to the left of the door, the other soldier on the right side.

"Ready?", he almost inaudibly asked.

The other nodded his head yes.

Jack pushed down the handle. The door wasn't locked. He let it swing open and looked inside. It was a storage room, lighted up bright and at least five times as big as he had thought it would be.

A volley of shots perforated the door frame next to him. He jumped back to take cover.

The soldier on the right side held the muzzle of his automatic gun into the room and fired a back a volley of shots which he aimlessly dispersed over the whole room.

They couldn't go into the room like this.

"Basement, main building. We found a nest.", he reported over the radio. "We need assistance."

Nobody answered. He heard more gunshots from the upper floors and from the outside.

"Jack", Audrey's voice on the radio made him startle. "The forest fire at the back of the complex seems to be spreading. They're burning everything down. Get out."

"Copy that.", he answered, right as another volley of shots crashed into the wall next to them. They couldn't close the door any more, but they had to get away from this place. If no backup was coming, they had to get out before the house was set on fire.

Jack put away his gun again and reached out for his rifle. "Ready?", he asked the man from his unit.

The other nodded.

"I'll cover you, get over to my side."

Jack took a deep breath and then jumped up to fire into the room. He couldn't really aim at anything precise because he didn't even know where their enemies were. As a surprise they didn't really return his fire.

The soldier on the other side of the door frame jumped up and started to run over to him.

Right at that moment a grenade exploded. The pieces of shrapnel hit the man in his full right side. The blast wave threw him and Jack through the corridor, crashing them against the opposite wall. They ended up lying at the floor, covered by dust and pieces of clutter.

Coughing hard to get some air Jack rolled onto his back. The blast had ripped the rifle out of his hands. He groped for it, but couldn't find it.

It needed a few seconds, until the dazedness had worn off.

He looked down the hallway. The stairs where they had come down had collapsed. He needed to find another way out of this building.

Groaning, he got onto his knees. The other soldier lay in front of him. He saw at first sight that the man hadn't survived the explosion.

The radio frequency was jammed by different voices, all talking across each other. He couldn't identify much more words than _explosion, fire _and _bombs_. These people had ignited smaller explosive charges all over the place to destroy it.

He grabbed his gun from the holster at his belt and got to his feet. Challenged by the dizziness he stumbled a few steps over to the door to this room again and leant against the wall. He dared to look inside the thoroughly destroyed room. There couldn't be anyone left inside after that explosion.

He waited a few seconds.  
There was the crackling of some flames. Some of the things inside that room had been set on fire by the charge. Somewhere in the house a fire alarm had gone off and was making an awfully loud noise. The radio frequency was blocked by the most different voices, all of them were talking across each other, some of them even screaming.

He put the COMM unit out of his ear for a moment because they were confusing him more that they were helping at the moment.

He did his best to see something in that blurred picture in front of his eyes and to find a way through that giant mess in that room. Somewhere, he guessed, there had to be a second exit from that room. The men in there had fled to some place. They hadn't looked like suicide attackers.

He went further into the room, not seeing any dead bodies at all. They were gone.  
Eventually, he recovered from the blast. But the smoke from the fires around was reaching up to a dangerous concentration.

He held on to a nearby table and looked around. The smoke was so heavy that he could hardly see the walls at the opposite side of the room. It was high time to get out.

But a few lights to his right awoke his attention. He couldn't see clearly what they were indicating, but they spread all over the walls. He slowly went closer.

His guess showed to be right- he was standing in front of a large wall of servers.

The smoke got denser and denser.

Jack hurriedly put the COMM unit back into his ear. "Audrey", he shouted. His voice was barely audible to himself, through the fire and the beeping of the fire alarm.

"Jack!", she answered, almost shouting around in the silent situation room. "Where are you?" She looked at the screens in front of her with concern. The fires were spreading at a rapid pace now.

"Building 3, Base floor!", he shouted, keeping an in front of his face to breathe less of the smoke. There was no time to search on these computers for anything useful. He ripped the front plate off from one of the server stacks and kept looking for it's main hard drive. "Are the choppers still in the area?"

"Yes. They're waiting ten miles away."

"Send them in, we need them to put out the fires!" He finally found something that looked like a storage drive. Without hesitation he ripped it out of it's socket. It was one of many. There were at least twenty more left. "Audrey, we need to put out that fire somehow! We need to rescue that place!" He started to rush along the wall to his right. Somewhere in this direction it looked brighter. It could either be sunlight or an even brighter fire.

A few hundred miles north of them, at the intelligence headquarters, Saunders started to try get in contact with the pilots of the helicopters. They had been sent as a backup but had been ordered to stay at least ten miles away from the target zone.

Jack found the stairs at the back of the room.

His eyes were burning massively as he stumbled upstairs. Though the smoke was less in this area, the conditions weren't much better here.

Audrey heard him cough on the radio. Her concern rose. Again and again she had to remind herself to stay professional. She was worrying about him more than she was allowed to.  
Any other second she wanted more to call out his name on the radio. She needed to know that he was ok.

Rigidly she starred at the screens in front of her. The thermal readout hadn't grown bigger over the last moments. Probably the house was already fully on fire.  
Saunders passed her the situation report from the helicopter pilot.  
The release.

"Jack!?", she called, quickly reading through the situation report.

"Go ahead.", he coughed, still running upstairs. He had to admit that he was totally lost inside that building. He turned right on the next corner and ran down another endless seeming smoke-flooded hallway.

"Jack, the choppers are on their way. They have to divert first to pick up that equipment. ETA fifteen minutes."

"Damn it, we don't have fifteen minutes!", he roared. "Tell them to hurry up. We have to rescue that building before everything in here melts down! One of their offices is in the basement!" He pushed another door open finding it leading out into the outside.

Glad to be out of that building he staggered a few feet away from that building. Every other breath stung awfully in his lungs. If there had been a choice, he would have sat down right there to take a break to breathe some of that fresh air.

But there was no time for this.

He went a few steps to take cover and to get an overview of that situation.

* * *

Tensely Audrey listened to his orders over the radio.

"How far are the choppers away?", she asked Saunders.

He pulled up another satellite image, where they could see them pretty clearly on the thermal image. "See, they're picking up the first load of water now.", he murmured. "Two minutes ahead of schedule."

"Alright.", she murmured, turning back to the other satellite image of their combat area. It was an unchanged picture which she couldn't make much sense of.

Three cars had left the area. Jack had ordered the two units at the exit roads to take care of them, while he and his unit at the site were doing their best to keep the fire at bay. At the same time they still had to defend themselves.

Unwillingly, she had to listen to them, as they were sustaining casualties every other moment.

"Where's that damn chopper?", Jack asked again.

"ETA two minutes!", Saunders shouted back before she could even answer.

At the larger area satellite view they could already see it approach.

Tensely they watched the pictures from the situation room.  
Tusker was on the phone, ordering backup.

One of the helicopters stayed back as the first approached the scene and threw off its water ballast. For a few moments it was invincible over the fire at the thermal image, but then it appeared again at the other side of the area.

The second helicopter approached.

Audrey prayed it would help keep the fires at bay. She prayed that there would be something left of their offices in the basement.

Suddenly, the fire at the thermal image grew many times as big as it had been before.

Screams and shouts roared on the radio.

"Something… exploded", Saunders murmured, starring at the screen. They hadn't seen the helicopter come out of that scene before the explosion. The second one was still in the area.

Audrey couldn't hold it back any more. "Jack!", she called his name.

No reaction. She called for him a second time.

Saunders also got restless. "Captain, we need a report!", he shouted.

Somebody answered, not Jack. "Chopper's down", the man laboriously spoke.


	10. Retreat

**Retreat **  
Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
02:23pm LT, Blue Ridge, Virginia

* * *

He felt how somebody grabbed his left shoulder and shook it heftily. They were trying to find out if he was still alive.  
But he was barely able to look around at the moment, let alone to speak a word.  
He felt the touch of somebody on his neck, as they were trying to feel his pulse. _He's alive,_ he heard an unknown voice calling and a few moments later the immense weight upon his legs and his lower body was taken away.  
He lay there, trying to remember what had happened.  
He had been hiding… had taken cover behind a wooden shed, along with two others. They had had a good view at the burning house from their position. He remembered how the first chopper had come in, releasing its load of water directly on the fire. Almost instantly, the flames in the upper floors had become less. A few more loads and that building would have maybe been saved from the flames. But then, it exploded. No warning. No signs. Out of the nowhere.  
The helicopter had been caught by the fireball and one piece of debris had damaged its tail rotor, sending it down in a tumbling flight path. It had crashed into the ground, somewhere in between that wooden shed and the main building, and exploded, completely destroying the shed.

He figured that he was lying somewhere close, buried by the debris of the shed. One of the massive timber beams must have knocked him out. His head ached. On his cheek he felt warm blood. He couldn't move his right arm. It was still stuck under a massive wooden beam.

One more time he tried to pull himself out from under there, but the only thing brought along was pain.

_Jack,_ he heard a voice calling his name, again and again. _Captain,_ somebody called. He felt that they lifted the weight of his arm. He was free to move again, but he still couldn't.

They grabbed his shoulders and dragged him away. The battle to save that building was lost already. By now it was only a ruin any more. The explosion of the helicopter hat set it fully back on fire. Even if the other helicopter would try to save something of it, they couldn't know if there'd be another explosive charge, gas tank or whatever inside one of these buildings.

They were pulling back, retreating back into the woods where they had come from. He listened to their voices on the radio. Three cars had escaped the place. One due east, two due west.

Rubens, the officer second in command knelt down next to him. "Captain?"

"Let them run", he groaned as an answer, already guessing what Ruben's next question would be. "Track them on the satellite image." He didn't have the power to raise his hand to transmit it on the radio.

Rubens looked down on him in astonishment. "You sure?", he asked.

He didn't get an answer.

Their medic came over and knelt down next to Jack, too.

"Wake him up, he fainted.", Rubens ordered.

The man tried his best, but gave it up after a few moments. Shaking his head he looked up into Ruben's eyes again. "Looks like a bad concussion. That's going to take longer."

* * *

"Jack?", Audrey called him over the radio. She called him for the tenth time. There had been no answer ever since the explosion.

Saunders tried, too. "Captain?", he called, but nobody would answer. He switched to another channel and asked for First Sergeant Rubens. He was the first to answer.

Audrey stopped calling for Jack and listened to their conversation.

"Rubens, what's your status. Give us a report."

* * *

Rubens was out of breath. He got onto his feet again and looked around. Everywhere around him were small groups of their unit. Many of them had been wounded by the explosion.

"The Captain's down.", he reported. It cost him a bit of courage to say the words, but he had waited for the moment until he'd say them- "I'm in command now."

Audrey's heart sank as she heard him say it.  
She sat at the table and her knees started to shake.  
She desperately wanted to ask him how Jack was, fearing the worst.

"Sergeant, we see three cars moving away from your area. What are your intentions?", he asked over the radio. Then, covering his headset's microphone, he asked Audrey, "Can you pull up the next sectors on the satellite image?"

"Y…Ye..yes", she stammered and began to work on it. Her fingers were trembling as she typed in the commands.

"We're going to follow them and take them down.", Rubens said, clearly against the order that Jack had given him before he had fainted. Once more he looked down at their unconscious commander. He regarded him with contempt. That man had come to their unit, instated out of the blue by the Colonel. Ever since he had been here his orders had led them deeper into the chaos. Ordering them to go into an actually contaminated area, charging an area though their enemies outnumbered them, ordering a helicopter into a non-secured area… enough had gone wrong for one day.

He looked down to check if Bauer was still unconscious.  
At least it looked like he hadn't overheard his new order.

Rubens was determined to make the persons pay who had taken down half of their unit and had killed loads and loads of his men- his friends.

"We're following them. Order the chopper to pick us up in the western yard.", he repeated and then started to scratch together the remains of their unit.

* * *

Colonel Tusker sat in his office and read through an unpleasant message that he had received right now. It were the paper's for Audrey's redeployment. The DoD's administration was requesting her to be transferred to a post in their department.

Reluctantly he printed the order.

He took it out of the printer and put it into his signature folder.

This was the will of the Secretary of Defense. Heller had vaguely spoken about it as they had been on the phone.

In the moment Tusker wasn't able to see any justification in this order.

Heller was acting strangely. He was using his power for his personal matters.

Once more the Colonel looked at the effective date – it said _effective immediate,_ meaning that she should be sent over to the Pentagon right away.

He closed the folder and put it away. He'd not rip her out of that mission right now. Before he'd let Audrey be transferred to DoD, he desperately wanted to find out more about Heller's reasons.

* * *

10 minutes later

It had been some of the worst ten minutes in her life, Audrey felt, as she made notes of the corpsman's report. Now, twenty minutes after the explosion, was the first moment he found time to contact them on a free channel to give them a report.

At least Jack wasn't dead, that was all she had needed to hear. Hurriedly she wrote down the rest of his report. It was a very unpleasant one. 7 confirmed dead, 5 severely wounded, at least 3 still being missed.

"Can I… talk to the Captain?", she asked the corpsman.

"Of course, standby.", the medic answered.

A few moments later another headset was connected to their line. "Audrey?", she heard his voice.  
Relieved she closed her eyes, breathing out. Hearing him took a huge load off her mind.

"Jack, how are you?", she asked. She knew that she shouldn't do it in front of Saunders, but she couldn't think of anything else at the moment, until she'd get the confirmation that he was okay.

"I'm okay, Audrey.", he lied, to comfort her. He had just regained consciousness and had barely been able to stand up. Suffering from an immense headache he leant against one of the trees. He checked on the pockets at his belt. The hard drive out of the basement was still there. Hoping that it wasn't completely destroyed by now he took it out and had a look at it. "Do you have a stable satellite uplink?", he asked her.

Audrey was astounded by the question. "What for? Which area?"

He startled. "Aren't you tracing their cars?"

"No. We put up a stable static uplink.", she answered. "Sergeant Rubens will take their convoy down within the sector, any second now."

Rubens. Jack remembered his order to Rubens to stand down and let them get away. _So of a bitch,_ he roared. "I gave an order to let them run. Audrey, can you install a trace uplink?"

"Jack, we'd need more than ten minutes for that! They'll be out of the coverage by then!" She wove her hand at Saunders, telling him to connect to their conversation, but he declined. He was busy coordinating the assault on the convoy.

"Call them off!", Jack ordered.

She had a look at the satellite image. The chopper had just reached the convoy. "Jack, I fear it's too late. They've already seen our men. If we call them off now they'll know we've let them run."

He knew she was right. "Damn it!", he loudly roared into the woods.

The medic next to him looked at him in surprise. He hadn't overheard the last parts of their conversation. Jack turned to him and handed him the hard drive. "Guide that with your life.", he said to him. "Make it sure it gets back to the base."

"Jack, what are you up to?", Audrey worriedly asked.

The astonished man also wanted to reply something- like that it wasn't his duty to do things like that. Jack didn't even give him a chance to speak.

He went over to one of the dead soldiers, taking the man's gun out of the low ride holster.

"What are you up to?", Audrey asked him over the radio.

"I'm following them. Give me their position as long as you've got it.", he answered.

"Ruben's is already going after them. You'll not get to the fight in time."

"I've seen them flee, Audrey. They're armed to their teeth. Rubens's won't stand a chance against them out of an unarmed transport helicopter." Jack started to run due south, from where they had come from. Their vehicles were still parked at the other side of this forest.

"You're just gonna get yourself killed!", Audrey furiously answered.

"No."

"Jack…!"

"Stop arguing with me, Audrey!", he roared into the COMM unit. "That's an order!"

She was taken aback by his words.  
Silently she leant back and took a few deep breaths, staring at the satellite image, where on the southern side of the large fires, one single thermal spot had just started to move.


	11. Trace

**Trace **  
Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
02:32pm LT, Blue Ridge, Virginia

* * *

Jack threw the helmet and his gloves at the front passenger's seat while driving. He vaguely remembered the layout of the streets. He had to go back to the freeway and then turn left towards north again. He'd have to continue about three miles on the freeway until the reaching two junctions.

He listened to the radio. He didn't hear any good news. Though Rubens was acting against his orders, he said nothing. It was too late to call them off without endangering their mission even more. All he could do at this point was listening to Ruben's radio communication.  
It was devastating. They had tried to stop the convoy by shooting out of the helicopter. The men on the ground had answered with a rocket launcher and automatic gun fire, taking down the unarmed helicopter.  
They had tried an emergency landing, blocking the streets, but they had crashed into the woods next to the street. That had been their last communication.

Jack looked to his left and saw a trail of smoke rising out of the woods. That was about a mile left of his position. They seemed to be driving at a parallel street through the woods.

"Audrey, how long do they stay inside the coverage area?", he asked on the second radio channel.

"About two miles are left. We're still working on the trace uplink.", she answered.

"Copy that. Do you have two crossroads at the freeway on your screen?"

"Yes. They're heading for the one near you."

He was already too close. The junction was in sight- even worse- anyone at the junction could clearly see his car from over there.  
Jack turned right into a street to hide his position.

"Forty seconds.", Audrey told him. Saunders, next to her, was still trying to get in contact with Sergeant Rubens again.

Tensely Jack sat there. A row of trees and bushes hid most of his Humvee.

"Thirty seconds."

He heard how changed her voice was. She was answering him concisely.

"Twenty seconds." Her voice sounded angry.

He leant back into the seat and closed his eyes for a moment. He would have given anything to have a moment to speak with her- privately, and not over their radio frequencies.

"Ten seconds."

The road coming from the settlement in the woods was in his sight. It was a broad and dusty lane. From far he could already see a plume of dust rising – before he even saw the convoy.

Finally, two black jeeps appeared.

"I've got them in sight. They turn northeast."

"I see it, Jack. They're leaving our field of sight in five hundred yards."

He engaged a gear and slowly went forward. As their cars were just past the brow of the hill he started to drive. There was nobody else but them three cars on the streets. If he came to close- even if the only got into their field of sight – they'd spot him.  
He had seen their armament before. If they saw him, he knew, he'd not have a chance to defend.

"I've got news from Sergeant Rubens' team", she said after having talked to Saunders. "Major Saunders is always on our channel now."

"Go ahead.", Jack murmured. He slowed down as he reached the crest of the hill. Slowly he rolled over it, until he saw their two jeeps in the far. He'd stop here and let them get a bigger lead.

"Sergeant Rubens and three of his men survived the helicopter crash.", Saunders reported.

"Copy that. How long until you've got the trace uplink?" He watched their cars from the far, wishing he'd not have lost his monocular and the rest of his gear in the basement of that building.

"Three minutes at least.", Audrey answered. "Our analysts are working as fast as they can."

Jack saw their cars disappear behind a bend of the road. He stepped onto the gas pedal and raced down the hill. He was out of their coverage area now.

As he approached the bend, he slowed down, letting the car roll slowly until he got a sight of the black jeeps again. They had slowed down and had stopped.

Jack braked the Humvee to a standstill, too. He hadn't expected them to stop.

"Looks like they're turning left.", he hesitatingly said, "We're now five miles from the intersection. 300 yards behind a left bend."

"Alright. I see it on the street map. The trace signal is ready any second.", Audrey told him.

Jack watched the convoy. They started again, turning left, as he had said. But they moved surprisingly slowly. For a second he thought they had spotted him. He considered backing off, but a moving point in the far would even attract more attention than the military fatigue green car at the edge of the dusty freeway in the far.

"Jack, the trace signal is on. We're putting it to the sector to your northwest."

"They should be passing any minute.", he murmured and watched them speed up. "I'm not sure if they have seen me."

"What does that mean, Jack?", Saunders spat, "Have they seen you or not?"

"I'm not sure. They went slowly but didn't stop.", Jack tensely answered.

"Before or after they turned?"

"Right as they turned." He shifted to reverse and backed up to turn the car around. "Do you have them on the screen?"

"Yes, right now. Trace is working." Audrey cut in. She passed on a message from Colonel Tusker that had just appeared at her screen. "Backup is coming. Their choppers are thirty minutes out."

"Good. I'm going back to look after Rubens and his team. We'll secure a landing area.", Jack answered and before Saunders could reply anything in his angry mood he ripped the communications unit out of his ear.  
Like a maniac he raced back to the town center. Anything that could go wrong had gone wrong. From what he had seen a dozen of men were wounded or dead. Their enemies had also sustained heavy losses, but he still didn't like the proportion.

He had come to the intelligence unit this morning to lead the men into a exploratory mission and not into a war scene.

* * *

2 hours later  
04:30pm LT, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bolling Airforce Base, Washington DC

Audrey stood up and left the situation room. She closed the glass door behind her, facing the colonel. "Sir?", she asked.

He handed her the transfer order wordlessly.

She took it and read it through. Effective immediately, she should report in the DoD administration in the Pentagon. This was her old job.

"I just got off the phone with the Secretary of Defense.", Colonel Tusker silently said to her. "He's awaiting you."

She handed the paper back to him, saying nothing.

"I'm sorry, Audrey… But I can't do anything against this order.", he murmured, watching her closely. She stood upright, looking at the concrete wall on the opposite side. She looked angry and upset but at the same time also like the saddest woman he'd ever seen.

"Audrey?", he silently asked.

She needed a few seconds to respond. Taking a deep breath she turned to him again. "Yes?"

"I know I promised not to… let these things interfere with your work here but my hands are tied. I can't disobey that order.", he explained.

She nodded silently. "I understand. Thank you for all you've done for me, Colonel. I know how your situation is. Really."

He was glad that she understood it, glad that she didn't make a scene. "I'd really like to understand this all, Audrey.", he began, guiding her away from the situation room, down the hallway. "Tell me the truth - why have you really applied for my unit?"

Audrey hesitated for a moment. Should she really tell him everything?

"Audrey, I just read Bauer's file. All of it."

Her heart sank. The truth was out.

Reluctantly, she let him into her office. He didn't care to close the door behind them. "What do you want to know?" As the mobile phone in his trouser pocket rang he switched it off without even looking at the display.

"Why did you apply?"

"I needed access. I wanted to find Bauer.", she directly answered. There was no point in lying. The worst he could do was fire her and even that didn't really matter to her. She had found Jack. Her job here was done.

"Why did you take parts out of his file before you passed it on to Saunders? Were you afraid I wouldn't instate him if I knew your both past?" He leant against the open wing of the door, watching Audrey, how she went back over to her table. She went past it, over to the large windows at the opposite side of the office.

"The funny thing is…", she laughed bitterly, "…that I never wanted him to be instated here. I just wanted to find him."

"But why did you give his file to Major Saunders then?"

She leant against the large glass pane, looking outside. "He had found out that I had been looking for Jack. I had used his access code to print out the file, and I took some parts out of it. That's why something was missing as I gave it to him."

Tusker stepped closer. "Where are these parts?"

"I took them home. I burned them after reading.", she answered. It was the truth.

"You know that you committed a federal crime, do you?", he asked her. He had approached her. Only two feet parted them. He saw that she was fighting with some tears.

"I know.", she spoke under her breath. Tears welled in her eyes. "What I did was far worse than a federal crime."

"You used a superior's key card for unauthorized access to classified material. You brought confidential DoD material out of the building to read it _at home._", he continued the list of her crimes. He made a short pause and took a deep breath. "Besides, you could have just asked me.", he said, looking directly into her eyes. "I would have told you his location if you had asked me."

She couldn't hold back the tears any more. "I couldn't have lived with it if something had happened to him today." She took a few deep breaths, wiping the tears away from her face. But it was of no use. New tears came after she had wiped the old ones away. "What I did to Jack was so much worse than all these other crimes.", she sobbed. "And you were wrong as you thought I could make dispassionate decisions. It was damn hard to do that."

Audrey had a final look at him and then turned around to her desk. She didn't have many personal things here. She hadn't even been here for one complete week. "I'm getting ready to go.", she sighed. "That's best for all of us. Dad was right."

Colonel Tusker said nothing. He watched her back as she opened the drawers and took out her few personal things.

He had all the answers that he had needed. He took out his mobile phone and read the messages that had heaped up in the meantime. _Field units are back,_ he read. The message was five minutes old. It was about time to get back to work.

A final time he turned to Audrey. "We're sending a convoy with the captives over to the Pentagon for interrogation. You can go with them- I'll have them call you when they're ready."

She nodded, wordlessly.

Tusker left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.  
Suddenly he jerked, as he found Jack standing right in front of him.  
Judging from the look on his face, he had stood out here, listening to their conversation for a couple of minutes already.

Tusker looked him over from head to toe. Apart from the cold stare in his eyes he looked awful. His uniform was dirty at all spots that hadn't been covered by the bulletproof vest. The right arm's sleeve was bloody at its end, the same as his right hand and one side of his face were covered with coagulated blood.

Jack held the hard drive from the server stack in the basement in his hands. He passed it on to Tusker. "Do you have any specialists to analyze that thing?", he asked.

Tusker shook his head. "No. We're sending it over to the Pentagon, along with the prisoners. I'll keep this in the meantime."

"Were you able to trace their convoy?", Jack asked.

Tusker shook his head no. "It looks like they found you. They went into the Staten Road tunnel, changed cars there and got lost in the traffic."

Jack replied nothing. He was the reason for this failure. It was just another thing that had gone wrong this day. He asked for permission to step away.

He needed to go back to the remains of his unit, he said. But actually he just wanted to get away.

From this place.

From Tusker.

From the thought of getting a next assignment.

But especially from the spot in front of Audrey's office.


	12. Apologies

_Damnit, I can't stop writing any more... third chapter within 24 hours... omg (I'm completely neglecting my work...) _

_But I couldn't go to sleep letting Jack and Audrey be angry at each other- I couldn't live with that..._

* * *

.

**Apologies**  
Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
05:42pm LT, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bolling Airforce Base, Washington DC

* * *

Tusker watched the scene from his office windows. A convoy, heavily armed, had taken up its post in front of their building. Four cars. The first and the last of it were armed to their teeth. The second one as a prisoner transport car, the third was reserved for the piece of evidence and members of their crew whom he sent to the Pentagon for debriefing.

He sighed deeply, as he took out his mobile phone to call Secretary Heller. Audrey was just leaving the building. She wore a grey coat over her elegant dress. Even from up here, in the fourth floor, he could see how classy she was. She was the only person at all whom he could identify among all these uniformed men, nearly all of them wearing the same clothes, the same headgear or the same haircut.  
Bauer was somewhere among them. He tried to find him in the crowd, but gave it up a few moments later.

_That guy doesn't even know how lucky he is,_ he thought, as he typed in Heller's number.

In the few last days here he had started to adore this classy, elegant, sophisticated and gracious woman. She had deserved more than a rude soldier. He couldn't help being envious of Bauer about her.

That was the first time he understood Heller's efforts to get her away from here. All he wanted was to get her away from this place, because she deserved something way better.

Heller picked up the phone just as one of the soldiers guided Audrey to the third car in the row, opening the door for her to let her sit in the front. "They're on their way.", Tusker reported.

* * *

Audrey felt misplaced here. Yet everyone she'd met of this unit was really nice, but to sit in that Humvee was something that she wasn't used to. It barely had any comfort, just two seats in the front and a gear lever that came directly out of a plain metal floor. Nothing in here was built to be any better than the absolute minimum. Two clamps were mounted to the dashboard in between their seats, right in front of the gearlever, to hold rifles. One of them was empty, in the other one was a fully loaded assault rifle.

Feeling a little unwell she put her handbag on her lap and clasped it tightly. She watched how the two men that had been captured during their assault were loaded into the car in front of hers. They were heavily guarded.

She jerked as the driver's suddenly got opened up and a man climbed into the car. She hadn't even seen him approach. It was Jack.

He got in, saying no word.

Audrey stared at him with big eyes. She tried to judge him, if he was still angry at her.  
But the view in his eyes and the dark bruise around his right temple didn't make it easy. He had been to the medical ward where they had fixed the laceration at his head with two butterfly stitches. Since they'd cleaned away the blood and since he'd changed into his army greens instead of the dirty combat uniform, he almost looked normal again. But she hadn't seen how bad he has looked before, right after he had came back.

Audrey sat there, watching him without making a sound.

He turned to look through the little window between the front row and the back of the car, asking if the men in the back were ready to go.  
Slowly the convoy started to move, going at a crawl until they reached the main gates of the airforce base. They turned left, to join the interstate 295 towards the city center. It wasn't more than a 15 minutes drive from here to the Pentagon.

Restlessly Audrey looked around. She watched the streets, the city, the convoy, but somehow, in the end, her gaze always came to rest at him. She screwed up her courage just to say silently "Jack?"

He took a deep breath and held it. "Not here, Audrey.", he answered, nodding his head to the back of the car. Despite the noise of the engine the men in the back could hear every word they said. It was ghostly silent in the car. Nobody had dared to say a word since the start of their travel. Everybody seemed to be wrapped in thought.

But she desperately needed to talk to him. That was probably the last chance for an apology that she'd get. "Jack, I…", she started, her voice shaky. She wanted to say something to make him understand that she had never wanted him to end up here. But at the same time she realized that there were no words that could ever express how she felt right now.

Jack quickly reached over to her and grabbed her left hand with his.

She sat there, thunderstruck, staring at him without being able to say another word.

She felt his fingers around her hand. For a short moment she looked down at it and then turned to the front again.

He continued to drive, silently. His left hand was still at the steering wheel, his right dangled somewhere between their seats, still having clasped Audrey's. He took the left turn to the bridge over Anacostia River on interstate 695 without shifting gears.

Instead, he just clasped her hand faster. She wasn't the only one here who wanted to apologize.

Audrey felt him stroke his fingers over the back of her hand. The bandage on his lower arm softly scraped against her skin.

She leant back into her seat and closed her eyes. This felt so much better than any words could have ever made her feel.

Their convoy passed the intersection where the interstate 695 merged into the 395. She opened up her eyes again as she noticed that he changed to another lane. Audrey sneaked a peek at the dome of the capitol building, which was only few hundred yards away.

The low evening sun blinded her as they turned left again, crossing Potomac river on their way to the DoD building. She remembered going this way every day once, long ago, as she had worked here. This was years ago. The last time she had taken the exit to the north Pentagon parking lot was almost six years ago.

She almost couldn't believe it that she was here again.

As he took the exit, following the truck in front of them, she clasped his hand faster. She didn't want to let him go, but she knew she had to. The entrance gates to the main complex were only a few hundred yards away.

As one of the men in the back came over to the small metal-grilled window between the back and the front row, Jack instantly let go of her.

Audrey quickly pulled her hand back.

She listened to their talk, acting the uninterested.

Finally they braked the convoy to a standstill, short before the doors to the Pentagon opened up and let them drive into the first double doors.

Jack took a deep breath. He looked into the inside mirror, at the men in the back of the car. If they hadn't been there, and if they hadn't carried a vital piece of evidence with them- then he wouldn't have taken that last exit to come here, not for anything in the world.

He and Audrey sat in silence, enduring the checks at the entrance gates.

Finally, they moved on, driving through the second gates, directly to a parking lot in front of the northeast entrance.

Jack got out, the same as the men in the back did. A group of specialists was already awaiting them, to accept the hard drive.

He watched the men in the back and the pentagon specialists exchange the piece for a signature on the delivery papers. Then they all moved on into the building.

Slowly he went around the car and opened up the front passenger's door for Audrey. She gladly took his help to step out of the high all-terrain vehicle.

The space between the cars was so little that she couldn't help being close to him. "Jack", she whispered, and grabbed him by his jacket.

He slammed the car's door shut and turned, facing her.

For an endless seeming moment they looked into each other's eyes, their faces only few inches apart.

He was at a total loss, not knowing what to do or what to say at all.

Audrey didn't feel much better.  
She still wanted to apologize. She could still see the anger in his eyes. He looked away.

"I'm sorry", she spoke under her breath.

"Don't be.", he silently answered, after a short pause.

Somebody had come out of the building's entrance. Audrey heard the man call for Jack. The one was looking for him.

"I've got to go.", Jack silently said to her.

She nodded her head yes, but grabbed his jacket even faster, pulling him to her, until she stood, leaning against the side of their car, Jack's body leaning against hers. _I've got to go,_ he had wanted to say again, but the words didn't come out of his open mouth. He was spellbound by the look into her eyes.

"I just came here to find out the truth, Jack.", she whispered. "And all those files I read didn't make it any clearer why you left me."

"I never wanted to leave you.", he breathed, his heart was pounding like mad.

Audrey grabbed his jacket even faster, forcing him to keep looking in her eyes. "I know now that my dad didn't tell me truth, Jack. And I know, that all that's written in these files can never represent what really happened." She took a deep breath, "but in the end, it was still you who had left."

_Captain Bauer,_ he heard the other man calling. He was getting closer.  
There was no time for an explanation. He looked into Audrey's eyes, knowing that he'd need far more than a few seconds to tell her what had really happened five years ago, as they had returned from China.  
"You'll just have to believe me.", he said to her, "I didn't want to leave you. Not back there and not a month ago." The look in her eyes was so sad, accusing him of the worst. "I would do anything for you, Audrey. Anything.", he breathlessly said.

Audrey let go of his lower jacket and grabbed him by the collar. "Really?", she asked, almost provokingly. "Then kiss me."

She'd said it only to find out how far he'd go.

That he'd really lean forward and would press his lips against hers hadn't crossed her mind at all.

Audrey felt him pressing her body against the side of the car as their kiss intensified.

She closed her eyes and surrendered to the passion, grabbing his neck and caressing his tongue with hers. She hadn't remembered this to feel so good.

All of a sudden he let go of her and instantly stepped away.

She was taken aback by his actions, then she realized that the other officer had come threateningly close. He was just about to turn round the corner, calling for Jack again.

"I'm coming!", he called back into the man's direction, to stall him for a few seconds.

Jack looked back at Audrey. She was just wiping the smudged lipstick from her mouth. "Are you alright?", he asked her, still out of breath. His legs felt like jelly and his heart was pounding like mad. She was the reason for all this.

"Yeah, go, they're looking for you.", she hurriedly answered, putting her clothes back in order. As she looked into his eyes she could read him like an open book. _Don't ever dare me again,_ they said.

He turned away, buttoning up his jacket and left.

.

* * *

_well, well... alltogether, now 85k words and that was their first kiss... _

_that's harsh, even for '24'-circumstances...  
but I promise, it hasn't been their last one! This is just about to get going!_

_Please tell me what you think! I'm looking forward to your reviews! _


	13. Views, pt 2

**View, pt. 2**  
Saturday, 22nd of September, 2018  
06:05pm LT, The Pentagon, Administration of the Secretary of Defense

* * *

Audrey knew these halls inside out. As they cleared her through the gates at the entrance they had offered her help to find her dad's office, not quite knowing who she was. The guy at the entrance was new. She had known most of them as she had still worked here.

She went down a hallway on the third floor, which joined the outer ring to next inner one. Ten long years she had worked here. It was strange to come to this place again having been away for six years. At the same time it also was damn familiar.

She recognized each picture at the walls that they had changed in the meantime.

Her father's office administration office lay at the second ring, in the third floor.  
She turned right and went upstairs. It was a huge staircase, each step being three or four meters wide. The most part of the stairs and the floor was covered by a dark red carpet in this section of the building. The rest of the building didn't have furniture as good as this section. All the walls were paneled with wood.

She greeted somebody on the stairs who she knew from the past.

The one almost stumbled down the stairs. He turned around, looking after the blond woman who had just passed him. He believed he was seeing a ghost.

Audrey turned left as she reached the third floor. Two massive glass doors, with the Secretary's seal on them were in front of her.

Hesitatingly she went over to them. She took a deep breath and opened them.

As she stepped in, she found their old administration office. Surprisingly little had changed. There was a reception desk in front of her, it was unoccupied at the moment. To her left was the entrance to some conference rooms, to her right a large office.

Hesitatingly she stepped in, since nobody was at the reception. Her father's office was located at the end of that hallway.

Audrey glanced left. There was the door to her former office. It was closed. The name on the plate showed it was occupied by somebody else now.

She passed past Jack's former office. The door stood open. She looked inside, passing by. It was still furnished the same. There was a large, dark wooden desk at one side, on the far end of the room she spotted the leather couch. A little lecherous smile flit over her face as she remembered that they had had sex on that couch.

Gradually, she realized that it got dead silent in the room and in the hallway, as her former colleagues spotted her. They stopped to talk. They stopped to work. They stood up from their desks to get a look at her.

But she went on, like she'd miss what was going on.

A ghost had come back. The half of the people here were new, the other half had been her dearest friends, once, long ago.

"Hi Marcia.", Audrey greeted the woman who had just come out of her father's office. "Is he alone?"

"Audrey.", she answered, taken by surprise. She couldn't believe Audrey was safe and sound- and back. "It's been such a long time."

Audrey nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"He's… ready to see you… I think.", her former colleague answered Audrey's question at last.

"Thanks. I'll see you later." Audrey quickly went past her, to escape the conversation. She ripped the door to her father's office open without knocking. He was at the phone, looking up in surprise as he spotted her.

Audrey didn't care about it. She closed the door behind her and went over to the leather sofa. Carelessly she threw her handbag at it, but she didn't sit down. She didn't have the nerves to sit down and have a quiet conversation with him now. He had used his power to drag her out of her job. Judging from Jack's file, she knew that he had done much worse than that. He had interfered with her life before, not even telling her the truth about it.

Arms akimbo, she went up and down in the office in front of his desk.

Heller hurried the call to an end.

"Audrey.", he spoke as he hung up the receiver. "Honey."

"Don't honey me.", she spat.

"Sit down.", he harshly said and stood up.

She startled. Finally, she went over to the couch and sat down. Heller sat down at one of the chairs across the desk. He looked directly into her eyes. "I was surprised to find you here.", he began.

She snorted angrily. "Really? So you look what I'm doing- on a regular basis?", she asked him, almost challenging him. She wasn't in the mood to have a nice conversation with him.

"Stop this, Audrey. I know what you're doing here." He was damn angry at her. "Miles called me. He is worried about you because it seems you haven't answered any of his calls within 5 days."

She dropped her gaze to the floor. Miles. There was nothing as unimportant to her at the moment like her husband. She hadn't even thought of him within days.

"Do you remember that you have _life_ back in L.A., Audrey?", her father asked her again. "A house? A husband who is caring and worried about you?"

She didn't answer.

"Audrey?", he asked.

Slowly she raised her gaze and looked into his eyes. "Yes I know."

"It seems to me you don't. As he called me I just had to look for Bauer and I found you within a few moments.", he spoke. "How could you do this to me, Audrey?" He raised his voice, getting loud, "How could you do this to me, AGAIN?", he roared. "I've lost you once as you went to China, just because of that guy. And you're repeating it again, throwing yourself into danger."

Audrey shook her head. "I'm not repeating anything.", she answered and pulled a few sheets of paper out of her purse. They were the last remains of Jack's file. "What about how _you_ could do this to _me_?", she asked him.

Audrey banged the restraining order on the table between them. It carried James Heller's signature. "Tell me… how could you look me in the eye and tell me that he had left?" She was furious. She was mad at him and angry.

"You'd have understood me, Audrey, if you had been there.", he sighed and stood up. He grabbed the sheet of paper and took it along with him, as he went over to the windows. "That man was a maniac, Audrey."

"I don't believe you.", she cut in, "I know Jack."

Heller shook his head. "I couldn't believe it, too, Audrey, I've known him for just as long as you have. But he was very changed as he came back from China. This stay had left it's marks on both of you. Mentally."

"I don't believe you", she said again, but not louder than a whisper.

He went back and sat down at the sofa, right next to her. "I followed him, because I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes, Audrey. He didn't have a place to stay. He didn't accept any help. He didn't have any money. He was on the verge of becoming a criminal. He broke into our house, again and again", Heller recalled, "He was unstable, personality- changed….", he couldn't find a better word than describe him as a maniac. He gave Audrey the sheet of paper back. "I did my best to protect you.", he spoke, looking directly into her eyes. "He couldn't have helped you to get back onto your feet. He would have dragged you down even further."

Stonily she sat there, returning his look.

"The problem solved itself, Audrey.", Heller continued, suddenly with a stone cold view in his eyes. "Internal investigations showed major breaches of rules and protocols after that day. Heads would roll and people were prosecuted for that. Jack was one of them. But he fled the country before they'd turn him in."

She was trembling by now. After a real long time she asked him- "You call that _the problem solved itself_?"

Her father sat right next to her. He replied nothing.

Audrey slipped away from him. She couldn't stand to look at him. "I've got to go, dad.", she announced.

"Audrey, you work here how. You're going nowhere.", he replied.

"Then fire me.", she spat at him. She stood up and took her things. "I'm leaving now, dad."

Audrey ripped the door open and slammed it shut behind her as she was out of his office. He went down the hallway again, this time with a very fast pace.

A few of her former colleagues had been awaiting her. She rejected all their offers to talk, to have a coffee or anything else.

As they saw that she was close to tears, they eagerly cleared the way for her.

She stormed out of the office, then out of the building and out of the whole complex.

Hours later, she ended up sitting somewhere on the riverside of Potomac River, lost in thoughts. She'd never hear the truth, she knew, until she'd hear it from Jack.  
She knew that she had to call Miles back sometime soon, if she didn't want her life to break apart completely.  
But the at the moment she just wasn't sure what she wanted at all.

* * *

_2 hours later_  
08:22pm LT, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bolling Airforce Base, Washington DC

Colonel Tusker loved it to watch people who didn't know that they were being watched.  
Their glass-walled situation room was the perfect place to do that. Before every one of his meetings, he stayed away, in the corridor, watching his opponents, staff members, guest or whoever was there for a few minutes before he'd enter the room.  
These minutes often showed him more about the people than reading tons of useless information in some files.

He sipped at his coffee as he watched Bauer. Saunders had just finished the debriefing with him and Sergeant Rubens. It had nearly become a fight.

Tusker read through Saunders' report. It was devastating.

Bauer sat in the situation room, alone. He leant over the table, resting his head in his hands. He didn't make a very well expression.

Silently he opened the door and stepped in.

As Jack realized that the Colonel he stood in an instant.

"Please, take a seat.", Tusker told him and sat down at the opposite side.

Jack was tensed up. Saunders had already given him hell for the loss of so many men. Now it was Tusker's turn. He sat and waited for the blame.

"I read Major Saunders' report", Tusker began.

Jack grid his teeth. He said nothing.

"I also read Ms. Anderson's report.", the colonel continued.

Jack listened up. He hadn't even known that such a report existed at all.

"Altogether, I've got a pretty good picture now what happened down there.", he concluded.

"I take over full responsibility for this disaster, Sir.", Jack replied. He had no other chance, anyway. That mission had been his call. 9 dead, 8 wounded. 2 helicopters lost. Only half of their men had gotten out of this. The worst thing that Tusker could do was to degrade him and throw him out. Even that though didn't really bother him. He had faced so much worse before.

Tusker nodded silently. He took the other file in his hands- Audrey's report, and passed it on to Jack. "Do you know why I instated you upon Saunders' request?"

Jack shrugged.

Tusker leant forward, over the table. "You give a shit about protocols or regulations. You don't care about your men for one second when you're in the field."

Jack didn't know if that speech was his reason or actually just a reproach for the disaster.

Tusker stood up. "This is an intelligence unit, Jack. It's dirty, you and I know that. I can't approve the deaths of so many men, Jack, but I do like how you work."

He was amazed. "Well… thank you, Sir.", Jack stammered as an answer. "But unfortunately, I don't think the men see this like you." He knew they hated him.

"Commanders make unpopular decisions.", Tusker laughed. "Live with it." He went over to the door, pointing at the report in Jack's hands. "Read it. Ms. Anderson wrote that really well."

Jack sat there, still with Audrey's report in his hands. "Do you know when she's going to return?"

"She was transferred, Jack. She's not going to return."

"What?" The folder almost dropped out of his hand. "Why?"

"Orders directly from the Secretary of Defense.", Tusker said and left t he room, leaving Jack back alone. He sat there, unable to move. Heller had Audrey. He had taken her away from again.

As it was almost too late already Jack jumped up and rushed after Tusker.

"Colonel!", he called.

A bit surprised Tusker turned around to him. "Yes?"

"Can you tell me where she lives?"


	14. Views, pt 3

**View, pt. 3**  
Satuday, 22nd of September, 2018  
09:46pm LT, Washington DC

* * *

Monica froze, as she opened the door and saw who was on the outside. That man was just too familiar to her – Jack.

She hadn't seen him within nearly 8 years, when he had lived here in Washington DC for a short while. The past years had definitely left their marks on him. He looked older, more mature but also unhappier and wearier than she remembered him.

"Jack. It's been a while.", she silently said. He had come here so unexpectedly – she didn't know what else to say.

"Hi Monica", Jack took a deep breath. "Is Audrey here?"

She nodded.

"Can I talk to her?"

"Sure. I'll go and get her. She's out on the terrace."

"Alright… well, in this case I'll just go round the house and meet her over there.", he answered, waiting for a moment, seeking Audrey's cousin's permission to do so.

"Sure. Go ahead, you know the place.", she answered, and watched him as he went down the steps and turned left, into the garden around her house.  
She shut the door and went back into the living room. All the lights inside the house were off since they hadn't got any electric power, but not even a candle was burning. Through the open patio door she had a look at Audrey, lying in one of their deck chairs, covered with a blanket. It looked like she had fallen asleep.

Monica saw Jack approach through the garden.

Quickly she slid into the kitchen, took her glass of wine from the counter and crouched down next to the door, where he wouldn't see her. She desperately wanted to hear their conversation.

* * *

Jack slowly went up the three wooden stairs to the patio. He had seen Audrey from far. She had fallen asleep on one of the deck chairs. A half empty glass of wine still stood on the table next to her.

The stairs creaked awfully under his weight. He slowly went across the patio and sat down at the other deck chair.

Audrey woke from the noise. Slowly she opened up her eyes and spotted somebody sitting there. It wasn't Monica… this was a man…

She jerked as she recognized him.

He sat there, resting his elbows at his knees. He wore plain clothes, a grey teeshirt and jeans.

It was completely dark. Only the moonlight was lighting up the scene.

She lay dare, afraid to move. She was afraid that if she'd do the most slightly thing, he'd stand up and leave. He was at the verge of leaving again already. Audrey saw how restless he was.

They both knew without saying why he had come here.

"Are you going back to L.A.?", he silently asked her.

"I don't know yet, Jack.", she silently answered.

He nodded his head, bitterly smiling. "If I had told you eight years ago, that I'd be living in DC and would be asking you if you were moving back to LA… I think you would have laughed at me."

_Yes,_ she answered with a smile on her face, too. She thought back to the times when he had just moved here, years ago. He hadn't liked Washington at first. They had often talked about which place they'd want to live together.

The smile on her lips eventually died again. She knew why he had come here. But at the moment it seemed to her that he didn't know where to start. She screwed up her courage and asked, "Was it true, what dad said to me? That you left because they were about to turn you in?"

Jack grid his teeth. He nodded his head yes, almost imperceptibly.

Audrey looked at his eyes. His view went past here, somewhere into the far. He sat there and was fighting to find the right words, to talk about a time of their lives, of which he had never talked before.

He had repressed the memory, to continue his life. It was painful to let it come back.

Jack stared into the nowhere. "Partly. Yes.", he silently answered.

Audrey watched him closely. He had clutched the palm of his right hand with his left. She'd seen him do that before. He had the scars on the back of his hand removed. But although they were not as visible as before, she knew just as good as he, that the scars beneath the skin were still there- the mental scars. They were deeper than he'd ever admit.

She knew that she had to help him with a start somehow. Otherwise, he'd never talk.

"Jack, is it true what I read in the police reports, where dad stated that you had come to our house and started a fight with him?", she asked.

He shook his head. "No."

She gave him some time, before she tried to ask him some more. But right as she wanted to talk, he continued.

"I never wanted a fight.", he began, "Not after everything that had happened. On the day as you returned home I… I just wanted to make everything undone and get you back, Audrey."

She had hated him for leaving her. _Why is he telling me this? _she thought. "Why did you leave then, Jack?"

He sneered. "I didn't leave. He threw me out."

"What?", she snorted with laughter. She didn't believe him. "Come on, he was way past 60 back there. He wouldn't have stood a chance against you."

Jack answered nothing.

Gradually, it dawned on Audrey, that he had been serious about it.  
The smile on her face died. "How did he do it?", she asked him.

"He was angry.", Jack began. "He was damn angry at me. He accused me… that all that happened to you was my fault and that I should leave and never come back, four our all sake… that I was bad company for you…"

"That's not right.", she cut in.

"Really?" He turned around and looked straight into her eyes. "Really, Audrey?", he asked again. "Would you've ever ended up where you were and where you are right now, if it wasn't for me?"

She couldn't believe what he was saying. She couldn't believe that he was asking her that question at all. "What do you want me to answer, Jack?", she silently said.

He sat there, looking at the only person in the world who had truly gone through hell for him. He couldn't understand himself why he was saying these words. "He was right. It was my fault, Audrey, everything that happened to you."

"Was that a _reason_ to _leave_?", she probed, getting slightly angry.

He shook his head. Tears welled in his eyes. "I don't know… how I can look you in the eye after all that happened.", he answered, shakily.

Audrey lay there. That simple view at him sent chills down her spine.

"The day you came back, he threw me out. He almost managed to convince me that it would be the best for you if I left.", he continued.

"But you didn't.", she murmured. "Jack, I read the files. You came back."

"Yes…", he breathed. She could see the sad smile on his face as he thought back. "I couldn't accept it, Audrey. The night after it I came back to see you. He must have expected me. He overwhelmed me."

She looked at him, the same confused as before. "How?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. I just remember waking up in a hospital after getting into your and your father's house."

She knew the police reports. Suddenly it dawned on her that she probably knew more than him about that day already. A police patrol had found him, two blocks away from their house. "What do you mean, _getting in_?", she asked. As he didn't answer, she added, "something like breaking _in_?"

He silently nodded his head. He took a deep breath. "If you want to ask me now why I didn't find any other way… a smarter one… I don't know what to answer, Audrey." He sighed. "I found no way to talk with him. You weren't getting better. There was no way to talk to you…. to anyone – or to do anything else."

He buried his face in his hands. "I'm sure there would have been a chance… but I… I screwed it up."

Audrey watched him tear his hair. It was anything else but easy to have that kind of conversation.  
"Jack, I don't blame you for anything.", she said to him. "You didn't do anything wrong."

A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "Audrey, you don't know anything that happened back there.", he began, "I wasn't really myself as I came back. This time in China… had changed me more than I wanted to accept. I came back into a strange world."

Audrey saw that the memories were still haunting him badly. "Dad said some awful things about it...", she said to him, but didn't speak them out.

Jack starred into the far. "Probably he was right with everything that he told you.", he silently answered. "I had no place to go or to stay. I really ran around aimlessly. Kim didn't want to talk to me. You… couldn't." He took a deep breath and went on before she could say anything in between. "You were the only one I could think of. I wasn't used to a normal life any more. To be free… to have the right to go anywhere I wanted to, even to these simple things as having the decision what to eat, and not to have the decision whether to starve or get something that's even worse than starving." He couldn't go on talking. There were thousands of things that came across his mind right now. But most of them were so ugly that he couldn't clothe the thoughts in words.

"I know what you mean.", Audrey breathed.

Jack turned to her, looking straight into her eyes. "I wished you wouldn't.", he answered. Tears welled in his eyes. As he looked into her eyes he knew that he would never be able to forgive himself about what Cheng had done to her. "I wished you wouldn't know.", he repeated.

"It wasn't your fault, what happened, Jack.", she said.

He shook his head. "Don't try to talk this down. It is what it is, Audrey, and I can hardly live with it. You went to the end of the earth for me and I screwed up everything as I came back. I couldn't handle this life any more. Your father threw me out because it was the right thing to do. I didn't accept it. I broke into your house again and again. Most of the times I outmaneuvered him." He thought of the nights in which he had sat next to her, unable to do anything else than just to be there.  
"But you were wrong with what you said before. It was right the other way round. I didn't stand a chance against him. He filed a restraining order and sent the cops after me. We had a fight. I woke up in prison. You know..,", he took a deep breath and held it. "That was the first night after 18 months that I spent in a simple, normal bed. I couldn't believe it, as I woke up." Again, he made a pause. "That morning I realized how odd this whole situation was… how much I had gotten out of touch with reality and our normal life."

Audrey saw how hard it was for him to talk about that. "A simple restraining order kept _you_ away?", she asked him.

Jack shook his head. "You said you read the file. Didn't you see that federal arrest warrant? As the investigations against CTU started?"

"I did."

"Your father… was behind this. I found out much later."

Speechlessly Audrey stared at him. "Jack… I can't even believe…", she whispered, but she knew that it made perfect sense. "Damn it, why haven't you told me that earlier? We wouldn't have had to end up here!" She threw the blanket aside and sat up.

Jack stood up, ready to leave. It was enough now. He could barely think about all these memories- he couldn't talk about this any longer. "Would you have believed me if _I _had told you this all… out of the blue? If you hadn't found out on your own..?" He looked down at her, with a questioning look.

"Jack, I…", she stammered, knowing that he was right. If he had told her all that she would have never believed him. "I had no idea."

"I know.", he remarked and went a few steps, over to the other side of the terrace. There he stood, leaning against the railing, looking out into the darkness.

Audrey turned around and watched his back. "So was that why you left?", she asked.

"Yes.", he spoke out into the darkness. It took an eternity until he turned around, leaning against the banisters. "I really tried to put my life in order, Audrey. It was hard."

She stood up, too. Slowly she went a few steps into his direction. "I read it in the file that you came back a week later." Intensely she eyed him. "Tell me what happened."

He starred out into the night. She had stopped a few yards away. "There's not much to say, Audrey. I tried to get everything in order. I got some money, found a place to live, for the both of us, until you'd get better. I came back one more time, to get you out."

"Dad already knew you'd do that…", Audrey continued his story.

Wordlessly he nodded his head yes.

She had read everything in his file, about the day when he had come back and Marshals had waited already to take him into custody. She stood there and wanted to go over to him. It was well obvious that it wasn't easy for him to talk about their past.

"I could have tried again", he spoke under his breath. "I didn't. I was afraid I wouldn't get out. I was afraid they'd" _throw me back into prison,_ he had wanted to say but the words just wouldn't come out. He lowered his head.

She went another step closer.

He slightly shook his head, telling her to stop. "Audrey, don't.", he murmured, as she already stretched out her arm towards him.

"Why?", she answered, hesitatingly. "Is that why you can't _look me in the eye_?"

He said nothing.

"Look at me, Jack.", she commanded, "look me in the eye."

He slowly turned around and did it, but he was far from being happy about it. All of a sudden, he turned around at the spot and then jumped down the few stairs. Quickly he paced away, leaving her back alone.


	15. Reality, pt 1

**Reality**

Four days later  
Wednesday, 24th of September, 2018  
07:46pm LT, Washington DC

* * *

Audrey hadn't gone to work today. Her dad had wanted to force her to, but in the end she had stayed at home. He had been furious.

She had calmed him down as she had promised him to call Miles in return. It was the first day that the landlines worked again. She had promised him to return to LA soon.  
But that call had even been worse.

"Audrey, that's not fair.", Miles had said, repeating it again and again.

"It's only for a few more days.", she had answered and entered the sleeping room, pulling one of the drawers to their left open. She had looked at the empty suitcase that stood by the closet, wondering if she should start to pack or not.

"Let me at least come to you.", he had pleaded again.

"No. I need…", she had sighed and turned around, deciding not pack now, "I really need a few days for myself now. Just to sort everything out."

She sat on the bed now, thinking if it had really been right to leave him alone in LA for such a long time. This life here wasn't _her _life. She looked at the suitcases, still wondering if she'd pack her things and go back or not. Her mission here was done. She had had the conversation that she had been waiting for, for five years.

She hadn't seen Jack ever since he had been here.

Right as she stood up, Monica entered the room, their phone in her hands. "There's a call for you.", she said.

"Who?" Audrey turned to her. "Is it Miles again? I don't want to talk to him. Tell him I'm busy."

Monica shook her head and offered her the phone to take it. "It's somebody from work. His name's Colonel Tusker."

Her heart sank. Hurriedly Audrey grabbed the receiver.

* * *

09:21pm LT  
Fort Alexandria

„Audrey…", Jack stammered, taken by surprise.

He had opened the door and hadn't even looked who it would be. It was past nine in the evening, out there was a cold and windy weather and they were in the middle of a military camp.

She was the last person on earth who he had expected to show up.

She stood on the patio, and she looked quite lost.

He saw the most beautiful woman on earth standing right outside his door. She wore her beautiful blonde hair open. It fell loosely over her shoulders and the black dress. Right now he was so stunned that he could neither say a word nor move an inch. Why in the world had she come here, all that long way? After how he had treated her? After all that he had said? After all those lies about him that she'd probably heard from her father by now?

Audrey scanned him from head to toe. He had looked bad when she had last seen him, but now he definitely looked worse. His left forearm was put in a splint. A series of small lacerations and grazes spread over one side of his face, accompanied by deep rings underneath his eyes. Those, she knew, were only the things visible at first sight. Tusker had told her about his condition.

She had hoped he would give her at least a little smile, but he didn't.

Worriedly she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "Can I come in?", she silently asked.

He nodded his head yes. With his right hand he gave the door a little push and let it swing open.

Audrey stepped closer. She went past him, to the inside. Here in the Fort, at least they had unrestricted supply with electrical power.

Worriedly she stopped in the middle of the living room which was joined to the hallway and watched him. He seemed to have a hard time to keep his eyes open. All the time he had leant against the wall. She could see now that he hadn't done that for comfort but rather because he had troubles even to keep on his feet.

She stood in the living room now and Jack slowly limped over to her.

Audrey approached him to meet him halfway. They stood, at an arm's length, facing each other. He had still not said a single word.

"Jack? Do you want me to leave?", she silently asked, "I don't want us to fight any more."

"Me neither.", he answered, determinedly. He stepped over to her and suddenly pulled her body close. "Stay, please.", he whispered into her ear. It had been nearly a month since he had held her like that for the last time. He had already expected this to be another lonely night.

They stood quietly, both drowned in their thoughts. For endless moments they clung to the other's body, both sorry for what they had done to each other.

Jack felt his power ceasing. He had just been on his way to go to sleep as she had knocked onto his door. Audrey felt it, too, that his knees were about to give in.

Worriedly she supported him. "Jack, are you ok?" _What a stupid question,_ she thought right afterwards.

He tiredly grabbed the backrest of the couch to keep balance, shaking his head no.

Audrey caught him. "We've got to get you into bed.", she announced. "Come on."

Jack gladly took her help. The only bedroom of the house lay to their left side.

She helped him lie down.

Audrey moved onto the bed, kneeling right next to him.

He looked up and their views met, neither dared to say a word. They had already grievously hurt each other.

"Jack, do you want me to leave? I can come back tomorrow…", she began, trying to resolve the awkward situation.

He shook his head, "No." He stretched out his hand towards her. For a moment he was awfully afraid she'd pull back if he'd touch her, but she stayed. She grabbed his hand, their fingers interlocked. He couldn't express in any words how glad he was that she was here now. He didn't dare to get any closer. Silently he lay there and watched her.

Audrey stretched out her other arm and softly placed her hand at his shoulder. He looked so different from when she had last seen him. His hair was cut very short in that uniform military style. He wore a white shirt but the top buttons stood open, revealing the ball chain with his dog tags on it.

Why on earth had he gone back to his old life- even joined the military again? The longer she thought about it, the less sense she could figure out. There were still so many questions in her head, screaming for an answer.

This life wasn't doing anything good to him.

Even though she had only seen him for ten minutes now she could already tell that he was dead beat. The job which she had forced him into was demanding so much- both physically and mentally. Colonel Tusker had told her about their last deployment. He had called her, telling her about that self-destructive path Jack was on.  
They had followed a lead which they had gotten from the hard drive that they had seized before. Tusker had told her that he wasn't allowed to name any details, but he had said that it hadn't ended nice. Not between their unit and their enemies, but also not between Jack and Sergeant Rubens. Rubens was in custody for something that Tusker hadn't wanted to tell her. But by now, Audrey was sure that it had got something to do with Jack's condition.

Audrey put away her purse and took off her coat before she lay down next to him.

"Why are you here, Audrey?", he silently asked her.

"Tusker called me.", she answered, laying her head at the pillow. It was a king-size bed and there was plenty of space on her side.

"I'm glad he did.", he spoke under his breath.

Audrey saw him smile for the first time today.

She leant forward and gave him a little kiss onto his cheek. "I'll still be here when you wake up. Good night.", she whispered into his ear.

As he finally fell asleep, she could feel how his grasp around her hand eased.

Immovably Audrey lay there and just kept watching him.

She could see from over here in the darkness that he was on the edge, having lost all the power left. All she wanted to do was to apologize to him, but she knew as well that there were no words which could ever make up for what she had forced him into.

Eventually, she stood up to go to the bathroom. During her search for it she passed by the kitchen and her view got caught in an open bottle of red wine, which stood at the kitchen counter. She poured herself a glass and found an opened up bottle of pills nearby.

Audrey had a closer look. Painkillers. It was a bad mixture along with alcohol.

She came back to sleeping room a few minutes later. Concernedly she watched him sleep.

This time Audrey moved onto the bed behind him. She put the glass of wine to the bedside table and slid closer to him.

Carefully she put an arm around his waist and pressed herself against his back. She grabbed the only blanket from the lower end of the bed and covered them both with it.

"Good night.", she whispered again, though she knew that he couldn't hear her, and closed her eyes, too.


	16. Reality, pt 2

**Reality, pt. 2**  
Thursday, 25th of September, 2018  
07:00am LT, Fort Alexandria

* * *

Audrey hadn't even heard the alarm clock ring.

Hurriedly Jack reached out for it and shut it off before she'd hear it. The large red numbers showed 7am in the morning.

He didn't want her to wake up like that.

Softly he stroked over her hair and kissed her cheek, murmuring _good morning_ close to her hear.  
She started to smile but didn't open her eyes. "How late is it?", she tiredly murmured.

"Seven am. Do you need to go to work?", he asked her.

Audrey shook her head. "Nope. I told dad that I didn't want to work there. I'm not going to." A big smile was on her face by now.

Jack snuggled up to her back again, holding her close. "Well then… go back to sleep, good night again.", he yawned, leaning his forehead against the back of her head. He could smell that wonderful scent of her and could feel her heart beat under his hand, which he had put around her. It was too good to be true.  
Every other second he expected to wake up from a dream. But he didn't. This was real, though he could hardly believe it.

_Don't ever leave me again,_ he had already wanted to say to her, but he decided not to. It was the moment when he remembered that he was lying in bed with a married woman. She wasn't his. Out there, somewhere was another man, waiting for her to return. Somewhere also was her father, waiting to tear him into pieces if he'd see them lying here like this.

He lay in bed, eyes open, staring at the wall behind Audrey.

Somehow, he just couldn't go back to sleep any more.

* * *

_02:20pm LT, Fort Alexandria_

Audrey woke up again, lying in bed alone. She turned around and felt that the spot next to her was still warm. He hadn't been gone for very long.

Wrapping herself up in the warm blankets she lay on her back and listened. The shower in the adjacent bathroom was on. That had to be him.

For a few moments she stayed, discovering that she was anything else but tired.

Audrey looked around in the room. There was not much furniture, and apart from the large bed the room was almost empty. Jack's used clothes lay at a chair next to the bathroom door. The jacket of his service uniform hung over the chair's backrest.  
She looked at the service ribbons, trying to identify what they stood for, but she had to admit that her times at DoD were so long in the past that she had no idea any more what these insignia meant.

She couldn't stay in bed any longer. Jack was still in the shower.

Audrey stood up and went over to the window to look out. She hadn't seen that place every before in daylight. Fort Alexandria was a military base, twenty minutes south of Washington DC. Jack lived in one of the houses for the officers, directly at the base.

Yesterday evening she had come here, waving her DoD credentials at the entrance gates, telling them some story that she had made up. They had escorted her to the main building, from where she had sneaked back to the base housing. Although she had crossed a quarter of the base during her search for Jack's house, she had barely seen anything of it in the dark. It actually was a beautiful environment.

She went over to the kitchen and switched on the coffee machine. During the wait, she opened up the door to the balcony. Outside of the terrace there was a little garden around the whole house. The street, joining the whole settlement, lay at the other side of the house. To their left and their right there were also some houses, all looking pretty much the same. Right in front of her were a few yards of lawn, a little garden fence and behind it a piece of forest. She remembered from the layout of the Fort that behind the forest there was a military training area somewhere.

Jack saw her lean against the doorframe, as he approached her.

Carefully, not to make her jump, he put his arms around her from behind.

Audrey took a deep breath of the cold air and gladly leant back against his torso. She felt his hands on her belly and put hers at his.

"Did you sleep well?", he silently asked.

"Perfect.", she answered and closed her eyes for a short moment. "I made us some coffee."

"Thanks sweetheart.", he murmured, looking out into the nature. It was a magnificent autumn day. The sun stood low behind the wood, shining at them through the trees.

Slowly the let go of each other to get themselves a cup of coffee.

Audrey peeked at him. He looked way better than yesterday. The deep rings underneath his eyes and the exhaustion had disappeared. There was still a large bruise at his temple and a few scratches across the cheek underneath. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt. His hair was still damp from the shower.

But there was one thing that she couldn't look away from any more- he was smiling.

It had been a long time since she had seen him smile for the last time.

Jack poured a second cup of coffee and passed it on to her. "Here. Come with me." He grabbed her hand, pulling her with him, out onto the terrace.

"Jack…", Audrey protested, as they went outside. "… what if anyone sees me here? May I remind you where we are?"

He put the mug down at the small table and sat down on one of the deck chairs.

Audrey went to sit on the other one, but he held her back, pulling her down to sit on the same chair with him. He leant back and let her lie on his chest. Her head rested at his right shoulder.

"Jack?", she asked again.

He grabbed the blanket that lay on the other deck chair and gave it to her as he saw that she only wore the same thin white blouse as yesterday and that she was starting to freeze.

"Don't you get any trouble if they see me here?"

He shook his head. "No. Do you?"

Audrey thought about Miles for a moment. He couldn't be any farer away. Her other life was at the other end of the country. "No. I don't.", she finally answered. "I didn't dare to go outside before, because I snuck in yesterday."

"You. Bad. Girl.", he answered with a laugh.

Audrey laughed, too. It made her feel so good to see him smile.

He sipped at his coffee. It was a bit laborious to balance the mug with the hand that was put in splint, but he had put his other hand around her body, and was caressing her shoulder beneath the blanket. He desperately wanted to keep doing that.

After having put the mug back to the table he pointed at the neighbor house to their left. "That's the house of Lieutenant Johnson. Behind it there's a new Sergeant named Clarke and the one behind it is First Lieutenant Baker, who we call Booze." Then he pointed at the houses to their right. "The first two on this side are empty right now and behind them there's a road to the training area. On the other side are some Majors and higher pay grades. They never come to this neighborhood here."

Audrey inspected the house of Lieutenant Johnson, their only direct neighbor. It showed much more signs of habitation than Jack's. This house here was looking more like the empty ones to their right. "Have you been living here for a long time?", she asked him.

Jack shook his head. "No. It's going to be four weeks soon."

Audrey was still concerned. "Doesn't Lieutenant Johnson get suspicious if he sees me around here?"

Again he shook his head no. "No. She's okay. They all served in the same company of 5th battalion, under my command. They'd never bring us into trouble."

_Unlike Rubens,_ he thought. This unit here and the work at the Military Intelligence Department were two things that couldn't be any more different.  
He was happy that he was out of this all for a few days. Three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a badly strained wrist had made the doctor send him home for at least a week.

He was thoroughly glad to be out, if only for a bit of time.  
Jack slid his other hand also underneath the blanket and put it round Audrey.  
He wished that moment would last forever.

The broad grin on her face made him happy.

"Does anyone of your people know that you're here?", he asked, placing a soft kiss at her forehead.

"Not really. I told Monica that I was going to your place, but I didn't mention where that was.", she answered. "I should call her soon, telling her that I'm okay. And probably I should pick up a few things."

"Okay. I can take you there. Then you don't have to sneak in and out.", he kept pulling her chain until she softly slammed her fist against his chest. "Stop that."

He was sure that she would have gotten anywhere she wanted to. A blonde woman, looking as good as she did, waving with some high level DoD credentials would get access to any place around here.

* * *

_05:42pm LT, Washington DC_

Jack and Audrey sat in a white Land Rover which he had borrowed from Lieutenant Johnson. He had even introduced her to his neighbor, as he had gone over to borrow the car.  
She wondered how much he was into this.  
As he had introduced her to Kara Johnson he had not introduced her as a simple friend. He had left no doubt that she was the one and only in his life.

But there were still many things unsaid.

Audrey sensed that he was refraining from getting any closer to her. He didn't dare to kiss her and didn't dare to touch her in any way that could lead to more.  
She was glad that he didn't rush things, although she had had her moments, in which she had liked to rip the clothes off his body and have her way with him.

Her hand was caressing his thigh as they drove. It wasn't far any more.

"What did Joe say when you moved in with Monica?", he asked her, as they stopped at a red traffic light.

"Nothing. Joe and Monica broke up two years ago. He moved to Chicago for his work.", she answered, and then remarked, "And for his new girlfriend."

"Oh, I see." Jack was somehow glad that Monica's husband wasn't around anymore. He had never liked that man.

He turned right, entering the road to Audrey's cousin's house.

All of a sudden, Audrey roared "STOP!"

Jack slammed on the brakes. He looked around but couldn't find anything suspicious.

"Turn around, turn around-! Turn around!", Audrey hurriedly commanded.

He turned the car around in the middle of the street and went back, observing Audrey, as she looked into the rear view mirror. There was a haunted look on her face, like if she had seen a ghost.

He didn't dare to ask her what she had seen. At the next crossroads, he just turned back left and took the way down to the bridge on route 1.

As the street in which Monica lived was out of sight, Audrey turned back to the front of again.

Jack saw that she was all pale.

He stopped the car at a parking lot close to Jefferson Memorial. Then he turned around to her, but he didn't ask. He remembered that a black car had stood in the driveway to Monica's house. It had probably been a Mercedes.

He had seen that car before. He had seen it as her husband Miles had picked Audrey up at Edwards air force base, a little bit over a month ago.

"Audrey?", he eventually asked.

She buried her face in her hands. "Reality... just caught up with me.", she mumbled.

He said nothing because he didn't know what to say.

"Jack…", Audrey stammered.

"What do you want me to do?", he asked. He would have done anything for her. Even if she had asked him to drive her back to Monica's house, he would have done it.

"Take me away from here, Jack.", she spoke under her breath.

He leant over to her and put his hand at her shoulder. Though the words hurt him, he decided to be honest to her. "Audrey, I don't think that's a good idea."

She looked up into his eyes. "Why?"

"What is he going to do if you're not there? Call your dad? And where's the first place your dad is going to look for you?" _My place,_ he thought.

She grabbed his arm and squeezed it tightly. "Jack. Please.", she pleaded again. "I can't do this. I can't have this conversation now. I… I'm not … up to this now."

He looked directly into her eyes. They looked desperate.

"Just take me somewhere.", she pleaded again.

"Alright…", he answered, silently adding, "I'll think of something."

He started the engine and drove on. He couldn't take her back to his house at Fort Alexandria. He could also not drop her off somewhere. She had nothing with her, they both didn't have enough money on them and besides that, the times now were too dangerous to leave her alone at some motel room. He needed to be back at the base in at least 30 minutes because all entry and exit times were logged.

"Jack, are you mad at me now?", she silently asked him, after he hadn't said a word for a few minutes.

"No. Just thinking what to do.", he answered and tried to glance at her, as well as that was possible while driving.  
He was really not mad at her. He wouldn't have known either what to do if he were in her position.


	17. Hide

**Hide  
**Thursday, 25th of September, 2018  
07:50pm LT, Fort Alexandria

* * *

He had made up a good plan. Against Heller, he needed one.

Jack drove at idle speed through the entrance gates of Fort Alexandria, back inside. As he expected, the guards didn't search the car.

He showed him his ID, but the guard had only briefly looked at it. They all knew him pretty well around here. Thank god they hadn't seen how tensed he was.

Jack drove on, across the military base. Their settlement lay at the northwest corner.

As he turned into the street where he lived he looked back to the back seats of the car. "You can come out now.", he said.

Audrey lifted the grey blanket from her head. "That was easy.", she remarked, as she climbed to the front passenger seat while he was driving.

"Don't expect everything to be this easy. We still need to find a place for you."

She watched him drive down to his and Lieutenant Johnson's house. Thank god it was dark outside. "But you've got a plan, don't you?", Audrey asked.

"Yeah, I have. Are you up to a little walk?", he asked while he parked the car in Kara's driveway.

"Sure.", she answered, remembering him of that he was in a far worse condition than she was. "Are you?"

He smiled for an answer, locked the car and went over to Johnson's door to give her back the key.

Audrey stayed at the car and watched him from far. She couldn't really believe it where she was right now. She was running from her life- for the first time ever. Yesterday evening she had just come here to make sure he was alright, but in only a few hours everything had turned upside down.

Never before in her whole life she hadn't known where to go. But now, there was a complete emptiness in her head where once had used to be her so-called normal life.

Rubbing her arms she watched Jack come back to her. So that was the feeling he had lived with, for a great part of his life. Not knowing where to go next, not knowing where to live, to find a place to sleep, to get some money… it was bothering her more than she had ever thought.

Jack approached her. He saw her freezing. Hurriedly he took off his jacket and put it around her. "Come with me", he murmured, pulling her with him, out of Johnson's driveway and over to his house. But he didn't go inside with her. Instead, he led her to the back of the house and told her to wait in the garden.

Audrey watched him enter the house through the back door at the terrace. A few moments later he came back out, wearing a gun in a holster at his belt and an army combat uniform's jacket. He had brought a second one for her.

She had never worn such a thing before.

As he helped her climb over the little garden fence, she had to admit that they were both pretty invisible in the forest behind his house. The universal camouflage pattern merged perfectly with the surrounding environment.

"Where are we going?", she silently asked him.

"To a good friend of mine. He lives on the other side of that forest, in the Bravo class housing.", Jack answered. He grabbed her hand so that he wouldn't lose her in the darkness. Finally, he reached the little trail that he had been looking for. "His name's Jacob Armstrong."

"Was he also in your company?"

"He was my right hand man, as a first sergeant.", Jack silently said.

Audrey suddenly saw a few lights of houses appear behind the trees. Jack stopped and turned around to her.

"Can I leave you here for a moment?"

"Here?" Aghast she stared at him. They were completely alone, outside, in the middle of a dark forest.

Jack saw her being frightened. "Audrey, I'll be back in a few minutes. I just have to sound out the situation." He held her close for a moment. "I promise, I'll be back soon.", he whispered into her ear, before he left her back alone.

Frightened she crouched down behind a tree, keeping Jack in sight as well as that was possible. He crept through the undergrowth and even disappeared for a moment, before she saw him rush across the lawn at one of the houses' gardens. It didn't take him long to return. He took the same way back.

"Jack.", Audrey silently said, to make it easier for him to find her in the dark.

He came over to her, breathing heavily.

"Everything alright?", she concernedly asked.

"Yes.", gasped between his breaths. "He's not home."

"Is he in the field?"

Jack shook his head no. "No. I forgot it's Thursday evening… we all used to meet at Lieutenant Baker's house." He looked around, thinking of what to do next. "I'll have to a explain a few things to you first…", he began.

* * *

07:54pm, Washington DC

James Heller was slowly getting out of his mind. Since his son in law had called him to tell him that Audrey was gone, he kept running around, snarling at the people in his office. "Get me Monica.", he spat.

A few seconds later Miles had given the phone to Audrey's cousin.

"Monica?", Heller asked.

"Yes, James?", she answered, enervated.

"Tell me where Audrey is.", he directly asked her.

"I don't know it. As I came home from work today, she was gone. I told that to Miles already." She didn't mention that Audrey had gone away the evening before. She knew exactly where she was.

"Stop playing that game!", Heller roared. "Was Bauer there?"

"I. Don't. Know.", she spat back. _And if I knew, I wouldn't tell you,_ she bit back to add these words. She had promised Audrey not to say one word, to whoever would ask.

Heller knew that he "Give me Miles again."

She gave the phone back to Audrey's husband. As he had come here he had been worried about her. By now, that feeling had turned into pure hate and anger.

"I'm going to see where this son-of-a-bitch is. Stay where you are, I'll pick you up in twenty minutes.", Heller spoke. He was already on his way over to his computer to check on Bauer's location.

"Okay.", Miles answered and hung up. He wasn't even sure at the moment if he should pick up Audrey at all. He had trusted her as she had said that she'd go to Washington for a few days to visit a few relatives.  
Not in his wildest dreams he had thought that she had come here to cheat on him with Bauer. But it all made perfect sense. As he had talked to Bauer a month ago, the man had mentioned that he'd be transferred to Washington DC. He should have known about Audrey's plans the second she had mentioned the name of that city.  
But he had trusted her blindly.

Angrily he turned around and left the house, waiting for Heller.

* * *

08:00pm LT, Fort Alexandria

Audrey was all tensed up as they approached Lieutenant Baker's house. Jack had told her everything she needed to know on their way here. Baker lived on the same street as Jack. Every Thursday their whole company met at that house. It was an open secret what Baker was doing there. Jack had found about it by chance, as he had gone running and passed their house, only two days after he had become their commander. They had invited him to join them, ever since.  
Baker had some sources through which he brought loads of all the good and forbidden things onto this area.

She had no idea how big this celebration was, until she saw it.

As they entered the garden, she spotted at least ten persons out on the terrace, smoking. The door to the inside was open and the rooms in there were also crowded with people.

"Jack…", Audrey said, as they were already walking over to them. "Jack…" She pulled him back, until he stopped. He turned around to her.

"Aren't they going to be suspicious about me?", she concernedly asked, after she had seen that this place was so crowded.

"Believe me, they're not going to be. You'll see it the first moment you arrive there."

Audrey saw him smile at these words. He leant forward and put his arms around her. "Remember what I told you. We're going to find Armstrong. We won't stay for very long but they'll get suspicious if we only run in and out."

"Okay.", she answered, taking a deep breath.

He grabbed her hand and led her over to the stairs up to the terrace. A few of the men up there recognized him and gave him a loud and hearty welcome. He introduced her to them, one arm tightly slung around her waist. He left no doubt about their relation. They didn't ask any other questions. All of them belonged to Jack's former unit. He told them that he'd come back out later and guided her into the house.

"Is this normal that commanders party with their non-commissioned officers?", Audrey skeptically asked him as she saw the wanton mood inside the building. He said nothing.

A man approached them from right, holding two open bottles of beer in his hands. "Jaaaaack.", he laughingly welcomed them. Jack grabbed one of the bottles and gave it to Audrey, the other one he took for himself. "Thanks, Booze. Good to see you."

"Likewise.", he answered. It wasn't his first beer that evening. "You look like shit."

Jack sneered. "Audrey, that's the host, Booze. Capable of the most flattering remarks."

Audrey and Baker shook hands. Though the man was far from being sober, she liked him instantly. They were all nice around here.

Jack asked him about Armstrong. Baker pointed at a door at the back of the room.

Hand in hand, they fought their way through the crowd. From left and right, people kept holding them back, as they spotted Jack. Audrey realized that they were the great attraction of the party. They all hadn't seen him within days and now he was back looking like he had been put through the mangle- and suddenly there even was a woman by his side…

He introduced her to all of them and they all gave her a hearty welcome.  
She heard a few wolf whistles behind her back from time to time. But he always turned around and made it clear that there was nothing to whistle at. She was his. He was proud to show off with the most beautiful woman at his side.

The only one of all these people Audrey knew around here was Lieutenant Johnson, who she had met before.

Finally, they reached the other end of the room. Two men were having a conversation.

Jack placed his hand at the shoulder of the guy who stood with their back turned to them. "Would you excuse us for a moment?", he asked the other.

Armstrong turned around, hit by surprise. "Jack! I hadn't thought to meet _you_ here today!", he spoke.

"Jake, I want you to meet Audrey."

She and Armstrong shook heads. Jack and the sergeant clinked glasses. "Do you have a minute for us?"

"For you- always."

Jack took them both and led them to the end of a short corridor.

Armstrong followed them, quite puzzled by now. "What's up, Jack?"

"I need to ask you a favor.", Jack began, "Can you watch over Audrey for a short while? Tonight?"

"Sure…" Armstrong got suspicious by now. "Will you tell me why?"

He decided not to tell the other man all of the truth. "Well…. I need to get her away for a few days my place is the first place he's going to look for her.", Jack began, telling him just enough to understand that he'd have to take her over to his house for tonight.

* * *

_30 minutes later  
_08:48pm LT, Fort Alexandria

Nobody had realized that he had left the party early. He had gone outside to smoke a cigarette with a few of them and at some point he had disappeared without anyone noticing. He was in a hurry by now. Two hours ago they had spotted Miles' car in Monica's driveway. He had called Heller for sure by now. They could be coming around any second now.

Hurriedly Jack entered his house through the back door. He didn't switch on any light.

He grabbed the second mug of coffee and that second wine glass of Audrey and put them into the dish washer. On their way back from the city he had stopped at a pharmacy and had bought some painkillers. He grabbed the little bag and threw it onto the kitchen counter, so they'd find it if they searched the house.

Once more he ran through the rooms, if there was any sign of her left. He found none.

Jack ran into the bathroom, ripping the black T-shirt and the blue jeans off. He threw the things onto the free side of the bed, making a mess, and dug a pair of sweats and a crumpled and dirty white shirt out of the hamper to wear them.

That all belonged to the impression he wanted to make when Heller would appear.

After another look into the mirror, checking if he looked bad enough, and another round through the house he grabbed a bottle of vodka, switched off all lights and entrenched himself in the bedroom.

He sat down at the bed.

For a moment he looked at the gun that lay at the bedside table. He'd not use it, whatever was about to come.

With a loud sigh he bent forward and put it into the drawer. Instead, he put the bottle of vodka on the bedside table and lay down, waiting.

His heart was pounding like mad. He couldn't rest. He couldn't even close his eyes for a second. He knew what was about to come. Heller would come here, knock at his door, start to argue, let his men from the Secret Service search the house and the surroundings for Audrey.

He'd have to lie to him. The most important thing was to be credible.

Jack grabbed the bottle of vodka and drank a big gulp of it.  
Actually, his plan was to act drunk, not to _get_ drunk. But at the moment, he was glad that the alcohol took away a bit of his anxiety of having to meet Heller again.


	18. Seek

**Seek**  
Thursday, 25th of September, 2018  
09:10pm LT, Fort Alexandria

* * *

The knock on the door sounded heavy.

Jack got up from bed, damning himself for that he had really fallen asleep during the past minutes. He had had more of the vodka than he had wanted to. Together with the painkillers which he had taken before it was a bad mixture.

He staggered up to the door, putting on the sling for his left arm. He hadn't worn it ever since the doctor had given it to him. Now was the first time.

Again they knocked at the door.

Walking by the living room he saw the cone of the lights of flashlights out in his garden. They had surrounded the whole house by now.

Jack opened up. He froze.

A delegation of six men stood in front of him. Four of them were heavily armed men from the secret service, Heller stood right in front of him and Audrey's husband kept in the back.

Jack said nothing.

"Where is she?", Heller asked.

Jack straightened up. "What do you mean with that?", he answered.

Heller noticed the smell of alcohol as Jack spoke. "Search the house.", he ordered two of his men and pulled the door open for them.

"Hey!", Jack protested as they went past him, to the inside.

Heller watched him closely. He only protested verbally. His opponent made no single move to stop them. For a second, Heller wondered, if Jack would even be able to defend in any way. He looked like shit.

Slowly he went past him, to the inside. They both stood in the hallway, facing each other.

"Where's Audrey?", the older man asked.

"I haven't seen her in days.", Jack answered, and, more worriedly, he added, "What happened to her?"

Heller looked straight into his eyes, trying to read him. He looked worried, upon hearing that Audrey could be in danger.

"What happened?", Jack asked again, "Tell me."

Heller took a deep breath and held it. "She's gone, Jack." He approached him, until he was so close that he could whisper into his opponent's ear "If I find her here, I'll put you in prison, Jack."

Upon hearing these words, Jack's heart sank. _Don't let him see this, _he told himself and tried not to let it show. Audrey wasn't here – for now. But Heller would find her someday. He knew already that he had his hands in this play. Going to prison was not just a threat. It was a certainty.

"I don't know where she is.", he repeated.

"I don't believe you, Jack.", Heller spat and went into the house.

Jack looked after him and followed him slowly into the living room.

With crossed arms Heller stood in the middle of the living room and watched Jack come over to him. He seemed to have trouble to walk straight. It was hard to judge how drunk he really was. He made a messy impression, almost as if they had ripped him out of bed.

For the brink of a second, he felt sorry for him.

One of the secret service men came over to him, telling him that Audrey wasn't here.

Heller sent them back outside to search the vicinity and the two empty houses next to Jack's. Though Audrey wasn't here, he still suspected Jack to be a part of her disappearance.

"Logfiles say that you left the base around 5:30 and came back two hours later.", Heller continued with his interrogation.

Jack didn't answer.

"Jack?", Heller asked. He saw that he didn't like to cooperate. "Answer me.", he hissed. "I can revoke your reprieve and throw you into prison for much less."

"I was in the city.", Jack spat. "Needed to get something.", he silently added.

"Like what?" Heller came over to him. "Come on, we don't have the whole night for this."

"Pharmacy.", Jack mumbled. At the moment he wasn't even sure if his speech was slurred by the alcohol or if he was just a good actor. He wanted this to be over.  
Miles had also entered the house by now. Jack gradually noticed him coming over to the living room.

Heller strolled through the house. He switched on a little lamp and looked around. There was a mess all around them. A wine glass stood on the table in front of the couch, it was empty. He found the empty bottle at the kitchenette. Right next to it, he found a bottle of painkillers. It was half empty. Heller took it into his hands and read the sign that it came from the pharmacy here at the base.

There lay another bag at the kitchenette. Heller went over to search it. Watching Jack out of the corner of his eye he saw him getting restless as he took that bag.

Miles came over to his father-in-law. "Has he told you where she is already?"

Heller shook his head. "No."

Angrily Miles turned around, throwing an angry view at Jack. A month ago this man had promised him that he wouldn't mess up his and Audrey's life. He knew the worth of that man's promises now.

"He's been with her, I know it.", Miles spat at Heller. He couldn't hide how angry he was. "You said yourself that he had left the base."

Heller shrugged. "He claims he's been out for a pharmacy." Audrey wasn't here. He had seen how much Jack had let himself go. This wouldn't have happened if Audrey had been here. He wouldn't have started to drink or to look the worse for wear if she was here.

But Miles didn't see it like that. He wouldn't calm down.  
Angrily he went back across the room until he stood, facing Jack. He looked straight into his eyes.  
"Where. Is. My. Wife.", he spoke, breathing hard.

Jack replied nothing. He feared his opponent would freak out. But there was nothing he could do right now. He had to take it if it happened.

Eerie Silence.

Miles couldn't calm down. He was angry at everyone- at Audrey, but at this man, too. He remembered how she had woke up and screamed his name.

He swung his arm and beat his fist into Jack's abdomen.

Struggling with the pain Jack bent forward, clutching the spot where he had hit him. For the split of a second he thought of striking back, but he simply couldn't. Miles wasn't his enemy.

"WHERE IS SHE?", Miles roared again. He grabbed Jack by his shoulder and rammed his knee into Jack's stomach, roaring it again and again.

After the third blow Jack couldn't take it anymore. His knees gave in and he sank to the floor.

Miles stopped for a moment. He didn't even want to know it any more where Audrey was. To look at this man in front of him made him sick. He bent down and grabbed Jack by his hair to force him to look into his eyes. "You know what….", he hissed, "you can keep her."

Jack said nothing at all. Through a veil of pain he watched Audrey's husband walk away a few steps. But he stopped, turned around and came back.

He just couldn't stop.

It was not in his nature to hurt other people, but the look at the lover of his wife sent him over the edge.

Miles kicked his foot into Jack's side.

He heard his opponent scream. But that didn't make him stop.

Jack tensed up, expecting another blow. The pain was immense. He was fighting to remain conscious. But then, Heller's voice cut through the air.

"ENOUGH!", the Secretary of Defense shouted at Miles.

Angrily he came over and pushed Audrey's husband away from Jack. He glanced at him, finding him curling up at the floor, coughing blood.

"Are you out of your mind?", he hissed, thrusting a small bottle into Miles' hand. "Besides, he's telling the truth."

Miles read the sign. This bottle came from a pharmacy at North Washington Boulevard.

Heller wove the bill at Miles. "Times match. He really was there."

Miles leant back against the wall. He stared at Jack. This was the first time in his whole life that he had hurt another person so badly. But his thirst for blood was still not satisfied. He turned back to Heller, "That doesn't proof anything. He could have been there _with_ Audrey."

Heller had a look at Jack. Miles was right. It was not an exonerative proof. But Jack's story was consistent. He turned back to Miles. "What kind of stuff is that?", he asked him. Miles was still a doctor.

"Some… painkiller. Barbiturate based.", Miles derived from the sign, "Highly addictive. I think its use is forbidden by the army. That's probably why he got it from the outside."

Heller took the bottle back. He glanced at Jack, condescendingly.

Jack lay there, eyes closed. He heard every word they spoke. His plan was working. He had Heller right where he wanted him, although it hadn't belonged to the plan to get beaten up by Audrey's husband.

_Come on, let's take it with us, that'll give him a hard time,_ he heard Miles say. _Maybe then he'll talk._

Heller sighed. Finally, he answered _no._

The secretary tossed the bottle over to the place where Jack was lying. He knew everything of Jack's past. _He won't talk. He himself is his worst enemy,_ he heard Heller say- it couldn't have sounded any more dismissively.

Groaning Jack turned over to the other side and saw the bottle of pills lying right in front of him. Heller simply knew him. He was trying to beat him with his own weapons.

Eventually, Heller took Miles and guided him away. He heard them talking and though he couldn't understand any of their words any more he instinctively knew which part of his past Heller was about to tell Miles.

The door closed behind them with a loud bang.

Jack listened to the sound of their cars as they drove off.

For a moment he leant back, taking a few deep breaths. Every other breath and every move hurt. He tried to get up, but the pain kept him down.

He opened up his eyes and looked at the bottle of pills. He had bought them only for one reason – to make Heller believe he was an addicted again. This was the only credible explanation for driving an hour to the other end of the city just to get to a pharmacy. And that again was a possible explanation for his leave. It had only been a part of his plan to fool Audrey's father.

But now he found himself lying there and the temptation to screw off the top and surrender to them grew bigger with any second.

Coughing up blood again he reached out to take the bottle.

Halfway, the pain from his chest grew so big that he hesitated.

He closed his eyes and lay back. Miles must have broken another one of his ribs. He didn't move, hoping that it would get better.

He lay in complete silence.

He wished to turn back time. He should have refused the order to be transferred to that Military Intelligence Unit. Why didn't he? Because he had suspected it to come from Heller directly and that everything would get worse if he rejected?

He caught himself wishing that Audrey had never returned.

Everything had gone down the drain ever since.

Slowly he opened up his eyes again. The bottle still lay over there. It was within his reach. _Just endure the pain once more… and then make it be over_…., he thought.  
Three of these pills, and he'd fall asleep peacefully, forgetting about anything that was going on here. Eight of them, and he'd never wake up again.

It wasn't the first time he'd be taking them. After coming back from his time in Mexico, he had started to search for a substitute for his heroin addiction. They were the only pills that had worked, he remembered.

He knew he wouldn't be able to stop once he started with them.

Restlessly he lay there. Silence. Pain. The uncountermandable certainty that it could only come worse. His life still lay in Heller's and President Taylor's hands. With one word only he could revoke his reprieve and bring him to justice for what he had done to the Russian delegation any time he wanted to. He could throw him into prison. Even worse- he could get him to the chair.

He stretched out his arm a bit further. He was almost there. Only a few inches that separated him from release.

His fingers were shaking as he grabbed that bottle of pills.

.

* * *

_Written to:  
Rammstein - Mein Herz Brennt (1st part)  
RamFeuer - Mein Herz Brennt - piano cover (2nd part)_


	19. Resistance

**Resistance**  
Thursday, 25th of September, 2018  
11:21pm LT, Fort Alexandria

* * *

Audrey sat at the couch in Sergeant Armstrong's house, waiting. She sipped at a glass of water which he had given to her.

They had arrived here a few minutes ago.

Jacob had made her wait in the forest between the houses and had come here first to have a look if his house had been searched or surrounded in any way. But it hadn't been.

Secretly, she had hoped Jack would wait here.

It was over two hours ago, since she had seen him for the last time.

Slowly she was starting to get worried about him. She sat there, staring out into the darkness. She wasn't afraid of being here. A bit earlier, she had realized that Jack trusted Sergeant Armstrong with his life. That fact made her feel safe around here.

Jacob's house was a lot smaller than Jack's. The size of the accommodation varied with the pay grade of an officer. Unlike over at Jack's house, the living room and the kitchenette were joined to one small room. There was not a large terrace outside, just a little balcony. But the general layout of these houses was the same. A little corridor, one living room with a small kitchen, and in the back of the house either one or two sleeping rooms and a small bathroom.

She heard Jacob close a door somewhere behind her.

He came over to her, asking "Audrey?"

She turned around, seeing him carry a bunch of bedclothes over to the couch. He had taken a shower and had changed into more comfortable clothes.

"I put a fresh towel and one of my T-shirts for you into the bath room.", he remarked, put the bedclothes and blankets for her down at the table in front of the couch and got himself a glass of water, too.

"Thanks a lot.", she answered, watching him, as he sat down next to her. Compared to Jack, in his late forties, he looked like a boy. Audrey guessed he might be in his early twenties.

They sat in silence, staring out into the dark.

"Do you think Jack will come over?", she silently asked him.

Jacob shrugged. "I don't know.", he sighed. "You'll just have to let him in the second he comes by… the key is in the lock..", and after a few moments he added, "And if he doesn't I'll go over to his place and check on him in the morning, okay?"

She was relieved. "Thank you. For everything…. I mean, I just come around and you're doing that all for me… that's amazing."

"You're welcome.", he answered, smiling, "But don't thank me, thank Jack. What he did for _us_ was great."

Audrey was surprised to hear that. "Really? What did he do?"

"Didn't he ever tell you?"

She shook her head no. "I haven't seen him very much lately. We never talked about his work here."

"We've had a variety of commanders lately.", Jacob sighed, "All captains, in their early thirties, trying to make a name for themselves by treating their people like shit… Jack was none of them. He was really okay. He stood up for us when we needed him to."

"Sounds like him.", Audrey murmured. "Tell me more." She cherished the nice thoughts for a moment.

"There's not much to tell…", Jacob began and suddenly a smile came across his face, "I think Jack doesn't give a shit about protocols or hierarchies. He's not one of them who try to make a name for themselves."

Audrey started to laugh, too. "Yeah, you could be right with that.", she answered.

"Is that why he never got any higher rank than Captain?"

Audrey shook her head. "No." She knew the day when she had had this discussion with Jack. It had been years ago when they had talked about it – as he had been new to the DoD.  
"He left the army many years ago and became head of the Los Angeles office of the Counter Terrorist Unit.", she told him.

Jacob turned around, surprised. "Wow…. I… would have never guessed something like that. He never told us.", he stammered. "So why isn't he working at CTU anymore?"

"He left CTU years ago", Audrey continued, "And worked here in the DoD offices in DC for a while. That's where we met."

Once again, Jacob was taken aback. "You also worked at the DoD?"

"Yes", she smiled at him. "Don't I fit your picture?", she asked him, jokingly.

"I'm sorry", he hurriedly cut in. "I didn't mean it that way. Definitely."

"It's okay, Jake", she reassured him. "Just a joke."

He was glad. "So, what did you and Jack do at the DoD? I suppose it was no field work?"

She shook her head. "No. We were coordinating inter-agency matters." After a while she added "Boring stuff. Just politics."

Jacob sighed. "Well… boring reminds me of what time it is. I really shouldn't bother you any longer, Audrey. I should go to bed." He stood up. "It was really nice to talk with you. If you need anything, just tell me. I'm over there.", he pointed at the door to his bedroom.

"Thanks for everything. Good night.", she replied.

She made a bed on the couch, took a shower and lay down afterwards. Silently she snuggled into the blankets and stared out into the darkness. The large windows out onto the balcony were right in front of her. She could see the garden and the beginning of the forest behind it. It was a frightening dark view.

Somewhere out there, on the other side of it was Jack's house. She hoped that everything was okay with him. Deep down she even hoped that Miles and her father hadn't even found out about her being gone. But she knew, the chances were little.

The temptation to get up, walk the few minutes through the darkness and check if Jack was over there and okay grew bigger with any other second in which he wasn't here.

She grabbed the pillow and pulled it closer. The uncertainty was the worst thing of all.

There were things going on around her which she hadn't ever thought of. She wouldn't have ever considered it possible that Miles would show up around here. She wouldn't have ever considered it possible that Jack got dragged into this so badly. She had just come here, two weeks ago, to read a damn file. Everything had gotten out of hand.

Lying here in the darkness, she felt endlessly bad about it. She had unleashed hell on him.

She had never wanted this to happen.

A few hours ago, as he had told her that she would need to have a heart-to-heart talk with Miles, she had panicked. She had seen Jack's face, as she had told him that she didn't want to have that conversation with her husband- implicitly telling him that she wasn't ready to break her marriage apart. She had seen the hurt in his eyes upon hearing her words.

This all had come so suddenly.

Audrey lay alone in the dark, praying he was alright.

Her mind was set now. She'd do what had to be done.

* * *

Friday, 26th of September, 2018  
01:33am LT, Fort Alexandria

Jack awoke, still lying on the cold floor in his living room.

He opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling above. He was freezing. The pain in his abdomen and in his chest was still there, but it had decreased significantly.

Groaning he sat up, leaning against the back of the couch. He found that bottle of pills lying in front of him, on the floor.

Hesitatingly, he took it into his hands and had a close look at it. He had withstood the temptation although he had been close to giving in.  
Relieved he leant back and took a few deep breaths. Heller had tried to break him before, but he hadn't succeeded. He was not going to let this man succeed now.

Jack threw away the bottle and grabbed the back rest of the couch to pull himself up to his feet again. He stumbled over to the bathroom and switched on the lights to have a look into the mirror. The plan to look bad had definitely worked. Now he even looked worse.

Some blood stains were on his shirt. Quickly he put it off and bathed his face in cold water.

_Don't make any mistakes now,_ he told himself, putting on dark clothes and his camouflage uniform jacket. He took his gun, putting it into the holster at his belt. Then he searched the house and the surroundings again, to see if Heller's men had really left.

But there was no trace of them anymore.

Out in the dark silence, he climbed over the garden fence and disappeared into the woods, always looking around if somebody was following him.

There was nothing but dead silence.

He finally reached Armstrong's house. There was no single light on, neither in his house nor in the neighbor's houses.

Jack climbed over the fence and crept across the lawn, his weapon drawn.

He slowly went up the three stairs to the terrace at the back of the house. Everything in the inside was dark. He couldn't see a thing from out there.

Right as he wanted to knock at the door he saw how something on the inside moved. Somebody had stood up from the couch and came over the terrace door, ripping it open. He recognized her in that moment.

"Audr…", he had wanted to say, but she simply grabbed his neck, pulled him down to her and shut him up with a long kiss.

.

* * *

_I'm still not sure how this will end... I keep asking myself if Jack and Audrey will ever have a realistic chance of getting a happy life with each other..._


	20. Intimacy

**Intimacy**  
Friday, 26th of September, 2018  
01:51am LT, Fort Alexandria

* * *

Spellbound Jack stumbled into the room with her.

Her kisses tasted like heaven, but every inch of his body screamed _no._ This was harder to resist than any other thing he had every fought against, ever before.

After a few seconds, he had no other choice than to put his arms around her. He dropped his gun onto the floor and pulled her closer.

She had pushed him against the wall, kissing him in raging passion.

Audrey breathlessly broke away from him, a few moments later. Her face only a few inches away from his she looked spellbound into his blue eyes. She tried to figure out if he was mad at her but his view showed her that he was far from it.

Her grip around his neck had eased. She left it up to him whether he'd stay or leave.

"Audrey…", he finally breathed, while he brought her right hand to his face and softly cupped her cheek. "How should this ever work?", he whispered, though he desperately tried not to make it sound like an accusation. He needed to tell her that he couldn't bear this situation. He could neither go back nor forth. The reprieve that kept him out of prison- or away from extradition to the Russians- could be revoked by Heller any time he did something wrong. Being here with her most definitely belonged to these wrong things.

She could read his thoughts. It hurt her to see him turn her down.

"Audrey… I know you want me to stay – but I can't...", he began.

She saw the insecurity in his eyes, whether he should stay here or leave.

"You know this fight. You know the position I'm in, _you said_ you _read_ my file.", his voice was shaking as he said it. He took a deep breath. "Even if I do anything they ask me to, I could still be a fugitive in their eyes once this all is over. I don't know where I'll go then. I'll be on the run for the rest of my damn life."

She nodded, understandingly. She knew just too well what he had been talking about. A cold shiver crept down her back, as she tried to imagine which position he was in. It had only been a very nice wording to tell her what he really meant- he was about to be leaving her again.

"Jack, I can't stand that another time.", she silently answered. "I just can't", she repeated, knowing it was not his fault. She had thought about it during the past hours.

"I'm sorry.", he tonelessly answered.

Audrey heard him saying that, but she knew that he actually had nothing to apologize for. He wasn't leaving her because he wanted to. He tried to keep her away from all his problems.  
Slowly she leant forward.

Jack watched her come closer, spellbound by the beautiful lips which she pressed onto his so gently. He closed his eyes and let her do it.

An electrifying wave of emotions ran through his body as she made her kiss turn from gentle to passionate. She ran her hands down his neck and started to unzip his jacket.

Slowly she grabbed it and brushed it off his shoulders. Then she started to open up the buttons of his shirt.

After a while she had opened up all of them. Jack felt her warm hands at skin.

She softly pushed him back against the wall, her hands still lying on his chest. She kissed him for a last time and then she let her lips wander over the skin of his cheek, down his neck.

"Audrey….", he moaned, leaning back against the wall with closed eyes. He couldn't resist. And he didn't even want to. She could have done with him whatever she wanted to do. Her soft lips caressed his skin. It was not more than a little tickle at his throat, but every other kiss of hers sent him closer to ecstasy.

He felt how she ran her hands down his naked torso, until she reached his belly.

For a moment she hesitated.

She rested her hands on his skin and looked up to his face, in the dark. She could see him lean against the wall, his head reclined. He had closed his eyes. He wasn't about to resist.

She saw his chest rise and fall with every one of his deep breaths.

Very slowly she bent forward and placed another, tender kiss right at his throat.

She felt him tremble beneath her touch.

Audrey grabbed him by his belt and dragged him along, over to the couch. Finally she felt him awaken from his astonishment. He wrapped his arms round her waist, pulling her closer.

They stood, chest to chest, kissing each other in consuming passion. While Audrey tore the shirt off his shoulders, he slowly ran his hands up her body, underneath her T-shirt, and lifted it over head. He threw it away and kept working on her bra clasp, kissing her passionately in the meantime.

As he got it unfastened she had already opened his belt buckle and his jeans. Just to feel her hands right there made him nearly go crazy. She could have done anything with him now. He wasn't able to resist her. He wasn't even able to stand down and think, nor to think of any consequences. He was putty in her hands.

An eternity later they parted, gasping for air.

She grabbed him by his lose belt and pulled her down to the couch, until she was lying underneath him. He knelt between her legs and slowly bent down to her.

Breathlessly he looked into Audrey's eyes. She lay at the bed, beneath him. Her head was framed by his arms. Seductively she grabbed his pants and started to pull them off him. The long chain with his dog tags touched the skin between her breasts as he bent down to kiss her.

He decided not to waste any more thoughts. The most beautiful woman in the whole world lay in front of him and all he had to do was to bend down and take her.

Finally, he allowed himself to do exactly that. There was nothing in the world he wanted more at the moment.

* * *

Friday, 26th of September, 2018  
03:29am LT, Fort Alexandria

Panting for air he leant back, resting his head on the soft pillow.

They had ended up lying on the carpeted floor naked in a tight embrace, covered by a blanket. All sweaty, the cold air felt even colder.

Audrey snuggled up against his body closer.

Jack took a short look at his wristwatch before he rubbed her back. "Good morning sweetheart.", he jokingly said to her.

Audrey couldn't help to smile back.

To see her broad grin made him thoroughly happy. He leant forward and gave her a gentle kiss onto her lips. "Everything alright?", he added.

"Perfect.", she yawned for an answer, running her fingers softly over his cheek. Silently he looked into her eyes. Even the smile on his face couldn't hide it that he didn't know what to say. He had no plan how to continue.

But Audrey had one. "When can you leave here?", she asked him.

He startled. For a second he was confused, trying to find out how she had meant that. But the look in her eyes showed him what she wanted to do. She wanted him to run away with her.

"Audrey… have you thought this through?", he silently asked.

She nodded her head yes.

"Are you sure?", he asked again. He couldn't hide being worried. "Audrey, do you even know what you're getting yourself into? We'd be running for the rest of our lives. We're never going to settle down, were never going to keep friends for very long, we'd always be…" _running from them and I can't let you do this,_ he had wanted to continue, but she placed one finger on his lips, telling him to be silent.

"I thought this through long ago, Jack.", she spoke under her breath. "Years ago.", she added, leant forward and softly kissed him onto his lips. "On the day as David Palmer died", she began, "I already knew the Chinese were going to be after you. I knew we wouldn't ever get a chance to live a normal life together." She looked right into his eyes.

He was speechless. As he thought back, to that day, he still remembered everything clearly. That memory of her had become burned into his mind. It was the thing that had kept him alive during his stay in China. She had come to him, asking him how much longer he needed to stay at CTU, waiting to leave together. He wouldn't have ever dared to ask her to run away with him. Knowing, that she had already planned that, once, overwhelmed him.

She saw tears well up in his eyes.

Her determinedness made it hard for him to say no. "Audrey, are you really sure you want this?", he tonelessly asked again.

"Yes.", she resolutely answered, grabbing his face with both her hands. "Jack, I want this ever since. There's no discussion now."

"…leaving back you whole life?"

"What life?", she provokingly asked him. "A life I live with a man who doesn't even know me? Whom I can't tell anything of what I ever did? Friends and family to who I don't ever want to talk about the things that really bother my mind?"

He starred at her, unable to even breathe. He had a lump in his throat that nearly suffocated him. What she was talking about wasn't anything new to him. He was familiar with the feeling of hiding something, even from the dearest ones. Carl. Chloe. Kim. Steve. Renee. There was nobody in the whole world who he had ever shared the worst memories of his life with.  
But there was somebody now. Audrey.

She took a deep breath and continued to talk, "I don't want to continue like this, Jack. I don't want to live hiding things, acting like if they had never happened, waking up from a nightmare knowing that the one next to me will never understand me." She grabbed him so tightly that her finger nails bored into his flesh. "I'd rather run away from others than from myself for the rest of my life.", she breathed and suddenly Jack dashed forward, pulled her to him and held her tighter than ever before. Again and again he whispered into her ear how much he loved her.

He felt her hugging him, too. Her hands lay somewhere on the disfigured and naked skin on his back. He didn't have to hide from her, not one single thing. Each one of the words she had said had touched him so deeply that he didn't know what to do first- either kiss her, hold her, thank her for everything or simply tell her that he'd go anywhere she wanted them to be.

"It's alright…", she breathed, her heart racing, just like his was.

Neither of them was tired any more.

After a while he let go of the tight hug to kiss her.

Audrey laughed aloud. She couldn't hide that she was simply happy right now.

Jack could read her every thought. He kissed her again, this time more passionate than before.

Afterwards, her smile grew even bigger. "I love you.", she grinned at him. As she snuggled up to his body she could feel his hard-on against her belly. She kept kissing him.

Eventually he felt how she grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down to lie on his back as she moved on top of him.


	21. Future

**Future  
**Friday, 26th of September, 2018  
07:22am LT, Fort Alexandria

* * *

Audrey woke up alone on the couch. She couldn't even remember falling asleep here. She wore Armstrong's large T-shirt again and was covered with a blanket, up to her chin. It was so warm and comfy that she didn't want to move an inch.

She looked around and found Jack and Jacob out on the little terrace, sitting at the small table, drinking a cup of coffee, both of them smoking a cigarette. Surprised she watched him. She had never seen him smoke before. He had told her that he had stopped years ago, as Kim had been born.

They were discussing something. From time to time they looked quite earnest, but in the end, they shook hands and seemed to have agreed to something. On the table in front of them was a sheet of paper. Jacob took a pen and signed it, thereafter Jack did.

Curiosity finally made her stand up.

Wearing no trousers, Audrey wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and went over to the terrace door.

Jacob stood up and came back into the house at the same time.

"Good morning", he said as he passed her, smiling.

Audrey realized that she hadn't even looked into the mirror up to now. She ran her hand through her hair and got confirmation that it was really disheveled after the past night.

Jack welcomed her with a big smile. He took a last puff of his cigarette and threw the stub out into the garden. Then he took the sheet of paper from the table, folded it together and put it into one of the pockets of his jacket.

"Hey…", she sighed, as she came over and sat down at his lap. "When did you start to smoke again?", she asked and kissed him. It felt familiar but tasted different. She couldn't have said that she didn't like that certain taste.

"Sorry. Bad army habit…", he answered, looking guilty. "I better stop… I started it again as I came here… I just thought that lung cancer is going to be one of my least likely causes of death."

Audrey slammed her hand against his chest. "Stop talking like that!", she demanded, but very soon after it started to smile again. "We're going to change that.", she spoke into his ear and kissed his neck.

He leant back, smiling and put his arms round her body. He was tired after that night. After all, they hadn't slept much more than two or three hours. Audrey leant against his chest. They had been talking for a long time during the night, about anything and everything. They had made up a plan how to run away.

Audrey snuggled up to him. "Do you really have to go to that appointment?", she asked and took his left hand into hers. He still wore that splint around his lower arm and his wrist. She took it carefully and had a look at it, but there was nothing to see.

His fingers started to play around with hers. "Yes, I have to go there.", he replied. "Definitely. They're going to be looking for me right away if I don't show up. But we'll leave right away after that." Jack placed a soft kiss at her forehead. "I talked to Jake. He's ok with our plan. He'll take you to the station. We're going to catch the nine thirty train to Chicago."

She looked up to him, surprised. "Chicago? How did you find that out? Do you have a timetable?"

He shook his head. "No. I've been to New York two weeks ago. I only know that specific one."

"Oh, I see." She leant back again. "What did you discuss with Jacob before I came out?"

"Just some… stuff from work.", Jack lied.

"And what was on that sheet of paper?", she asked.

He said nothing.

"Jack?" Audrey got suspicious. She rattled his shoulder as he stayed silent.

He took a deep breath and looked down at her. "I'll tell you when we're on the way.", he said.

She was even more suspicious now. "Why? What are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing.", he hesitatingly answered, "Will you trust me just for a moment? It's going to be a surprise." As he said these words, he unwillingly had to smile.

Audrey was confused, but she did trust him. "Okay."

"Do you know what day is going to come on next Wednesday?", he silently asked.

She thought for a minute. "First of October…? What else?"

"It's going to be nine years since I met you for the first time.", Jack answered, "I started to work at DoD on first of October, nine years ago."

She had really forgotten about that. Silently she lay there and thought back. She had met Jack the first day on which he had started to work in her father's office and she had to admit that she had liked him from the first second on.

It had needed a few weeks until they worked more and more together, quickly building a real good friendship and later on more than that.

She softly stroked over his arm. So much had happened in the past nine years.  
"We should have made that decision so much earlier. To run away, I mean.", she said.

Jack sighed. "Yes, we should have." He held her close. Right now, he simply wanted to erase the past eight and a half years out of his mind. He thought back to the morning when they had woken up in a hotel room in L.A. and she had told him for the first time that she had fallen in love with him. Waking up today morning had felt exactly like that.

"We're going to make up for the lost time.", Audrey said, straightened up and kissed him onto his lips. "Starting today."

He kissed her back, and it slowly dawned on him that today they would be starting the rest of their lives together.


	22. Imagination

**Imagination**  
Friday, 26th of September, 2018  
08:35am LT, DC Center Army Hospital

* * *

As he went through the doors of the main entrance to the army hospital at Fort Myers, Jack had to restrain a smile. He was still certified unfit for field work. Coming to a regular checkup, smiling wouldn't be a great help, he feared.

But it was hard for him to hide that he was in a jovial mood today. The only thing that helped him was the he was really tired. But thinking back to the reason for his tiredness, he simply had to smile again. They had been awake the whole night, doing it again and again.

He went over to the receptionist to check in for his appointment with Dr. Everdeen. She sent him up to the third floor.

As he went up the stairs, he couldn't get the past night out of his mind. It had simply been wonderful. He hadn't slept with her in years. In that long time he had always tied to keep memories of her in mind, at some day even starting to believe that he might have kept an idealized remembrance that wouldn't fit reality any more.

But reality was so much better than any one of his memories.

She always made him feel like being in control- but in the end he had to admit that she had had him in the palm of her hand. She had allowed no discussion about her plans to run away with him. He had been skeptical first. Leaving away everything and running from the government _and_ at the same time from the Secretary of Defense wasn't a good plan in his eyes. But she had finally convinced him.

He smirked as he thought back how she had convinced him. She was damn good in bed- and she had the ability to twist him round her little finger. In the end, he couldn't even say whether this was good or bad. He simply looked forward to seeing her again soon.

Jack looked at his watch. It was five minutes past half to nine. He was here early.

Slowly he went over to the few chairs before Dr. Everdeen's office and sat down. He wasn't the only one waiting. Two others were also here.

Jack leant back and closed his eyes for a moment. On the whole way here the wildest dreams had crossed his mind. He was starting to think about the future. He just couldn't help making plans, although he was afraid to do that. Whenever he had made up plans for the future before- they had never come true. Something very bad had happened every time he had dared to make plans.

He checked on the sheet of paper in his pocket. It was still there. This was his plan for their future.

Relieved he let out a deep breath. He'd give his best to make everything work this time. Jacob had agreed to bring Audrey out of Fort Alexandria. They'd meet at the railway station in half an hour. It was only two blocks away from here.

He had come here with a taxi. He had left Fort Alexandria today morning alone, without a car. They had no reason to be suspicious about him. He was only going to meet Dr. Everdeen, the medical assistant of the Military Intelligence Section. Everything was in order.

Jack made a rough estimate, when they'd begin to search for him. If he'd not be back by four pm in the evening, they'd start looking. This would probably take them about two hours. If Heller was fast, then he'd realized it by seven pm that he was gone, with Audrey.

At seven pm, they'd already be somewhere in Pennsylvania. The first train was about to take them to Harrisburg, thereafter they'd change to a second one to Sunbury and get out at some smaller city where he wanted to buy a used car and drive the way over to Huntingdon. Audrey didn't even know about this plan yet. He had asked her to trust him and had only told her about the beginning of that routing. If everything worked out ok, then Heller would never be able to find them. He had no single trace of Audrey. Heller had also no other trace of him than leaving in the morning and coming here, to the Center Army Hospital. They'd be gone even before the others were going to start looking for them.

Jack was still looking for the right moment to talk with her, about how she wanted to continue their lives. It wasn't such an easy question.

He took a deep breath, thinking about his own plans. He dreamt of a life in peace, that was all. Settle down at some place where nobody would ever look for them. Take a job which wouldn't involve him into any more danger. To have a place to come home to in the evening. He dreamt of having a place where he'd look forward to coming home. Not just another lonely room.

Unnoticed, he fell asleep, sitting in the waiting room. His thoughts merged into a dream.

He came home, parking his car in the driveway. It was a quiet surrounding. Their house was the only one in a few hundred yards radius. It stood at the foot of a small mountain, surrounded by a large forest. The trees in the front were cut down and revealed the sight at a little lake at the bottom of the valley, and on the other side, a little town.

He turned around and had a look over to the small town. The lights had just come on. Sunset was a few minutes past. The evening twilight bathed the conifer forest into a warm light.

Taking a deep breath of the cool October air he locked the car and went over to the log house. It was two floors high, but not very large at all. A kitchen and a large living room were on the ground floor, along with the only bathroom. Up in the second floor they had two guest rooms and their bedroom.

He saw that a dim light in the living room was on. She had to be at home, waiting for him already.

He went up the few stairs to the large terrace in front of the house and brushed off his shoes. As he sneaked a peek to the inside he saw her sitting at the brown leather sofa. She was just about to open up a good bottle of red wine. Two glasses, for the both of them, stood on the coffee table in front of her.

Right as he wanted to open up the outer door someone grabbed his shoulder, harshly shaking it. "Captain Bauer?"

He jerked awake.

Dr. Everdeen's assistant stood right in front of him.

Jack straightened up, rubbing his eyes, condemning himself for that he had fallen asleep in the waiting room.  
"I'm sorry.", he apologized and stood up to go with her.

The woman felt sorry for him. He looked tired and weary. "No problem. Dr. Everdeen would like to see you now. Room three please.", she said, guiding him over to the door on their right.

Jack followed her, but the thought of this dream didn't let go of him.  
For the first time in years he dared to look forward, to the future. Today evening maybe, he'd be at the place he had dreamt of. He couldn't wait to get there.

* * *

_09:02am LT, Alexandria_

"Audrey, you can come out now.", Jacob said, after having passed the second crossroads after driving through the entrance gates of Fort Alexandria. They weren't being followed and were in nobody's sight any more.

She had left the Fort the exact same way as she had entered it- but this time hiding in the back of Sergeant Armstrong's car.

Audrey put the blanket aside and climbed to the front. She didn't have one single thing to carry with her. All her things were back at Monica's place, where she couldn't get to them. She'd leave anything behind now. The only thing she still had were her DoD credentials, but she wasn't sure whether she should use them ever again.

Jacob was driving her straight to Union station. They had agreed that she should get out one block earlier and he'd keep her in sight until he'd see Jack there. The schedule was tight. He'd go to the northern shooting range right afterwards, to have an excuse for his leave, just in case anyone from the army or from the DoD would ask.

"You got everything?", he asked her while driving.

"Yeah. I don't have a thing.", she answered. "Not even money."

"Don't worry. Jack said he'd take care of that.", Jacob answered.

She felt bad, not having one cent on her. "Are you sure?"

He nodded, thinking of the money that Jack was hiding in his house. "Yeah. Let's say it like that – he always had a backup plan."

"Really?" Now she was surprised. "Like running away?"

Armstrong shook his head. "No. I think he relied on getting a pardon. He told me that he was out on a reprieve."

"How would you know that? Did he tell you about all that?", she inquisitively asked.

He said nothing.

"Jake?", Audrey asked again.

He sighed. "I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't talk about this." _Too late, _he thought.

"Me and Jack, we don't have any secrets. Tell me, what papers did you and Jack sign this morning?", she curiously asked. She desperately wanted to know everything about it.

"I think Jack wouldn't want me to be the one to tell you.", Armstrong answered. He drove on, eyes straight out front, looking at the street.

She got curious more and more. "Why? Tell me, Jake."

He shook his head. "No, Audrey, he shall tell you himself. I think he wanted it to be a surprise."

"I hate surprises", she cut in. "Especially now. I just want to know what's going on around me."

Jacob sighed. "It's really going to be a good thing."

But she didn't let loose. "Tell me. Now." She was getting angry.

"Audrey, it's a pleasant surprise. Believe me."

" …" she growled.

He took a deep breath, unnerved. "Alright. He bought a house."

"He did what?" Audrey stammered.

"We've been talking about that for weeks.", Jake told her, "I once told him that my grandparents died not long ago and I inherited their weekend home and was looking for a buyer. He was interested." He made a pause, taking a deep breath. "That's why I know about all that. I showed him some pictures. He told me about his situation and that he was looking for a place to stay because he'd not stay in the army forever and he told me he had no other place."

Audrey silently leant back into the seat. She was speechless by now. That was the least thing that she'd ever have thought of. It suddenly dawned on her that there was more in the future than only the plan a getaway. She hadn't thought about what was going to come afterwards. Her plans only reached until tomorrow and not beyond.

"Where's that place?", she silently asked.

"Pennsylvania. It's in the outskirts of a small village called Huntingdon. Ever heard about it?"

She shook her head "No. Nice?"

Jacob sadly smiled. "Yeah. Way too nice to sell it. It grew up there, spent all the summer holidays with my grandparents there."

She could see in his eyes that he didn't like to give the place away. "So you didn't like to sell it?"

Jacob shrugged. "I don't have much of a choice. My girlfriend's pregnant. I need some money." After a few seconds, he added, "desperately. Jack agreed on a pretty high prize for it in return for untraceable documents with false names in them."

Audrey realized that he wasn't very much pleased to become a father. He looked quite young.

She thought of Jack, how he must have looked like and been like, at Jacob's age. He had also been very young to become Kim's father. Once, long ago, he had told her that he and Teri had been way too immature to get a child and get married so quickly.

Jacob reminded her very much of Jack. Probably, that was a reason too, why he and the young Sergeant were such close friends.

"Jack told me that somebody in the army gave him this assignment in our unit by way of thanks for something he'd done in California a few weeks earlier. He was expecting that person to give him a pardon once this war would be over and that he wanted to get his normal life back.", Jacob told her, "Do you know something about this?"

Audrey bit her lip to stay silent. Of course she knew what he had done six weeks ago. He had gotten her out of Bakersfield after the bombs had gone off. Her father had been the one to transfer him to the other end of the country, just so they wouldn't meet again. This hadn't been a thank-you. She couldn't believe that Jack had really relied on getting a pardon from her father.

Jacob realized that she was somehow changed. "Did I say something wrong?", he hesitatingly asked her.

Audrey shook her head. "No. I was just thinking about all that happened lately.", she murmured. She had been the reason for all this to happen. He had gone to Bakersfield just for her. He had gotten dragged back into the army because of this. She had been the one to force him into the Defense Intelligence Unit where he got hurt. She had put her father onto him again by making the decision to run away.

Very slowly, it dawned on her, that every one of her decisions had brought him deeper into the shit. Was the decision to run away just another fatal mistake?

Jacob pulled over at a free parking spot. "We're here.", he said, pointing at the railway station, just a block away. He glanced at his wristwatch. "It's ten past nine. I think he'll come around any minute now. You better go."

Audrey took a deep breath and had a look at the crowded street before she opened up the front passenger door. Right in front of her, there was an army checkpoint. Two other soldiers patrolled the square in front of the main entrance of Union station. She looked past the station and saw the only crossroads in the area that wasn't guarded. Jack had talked to her about it. There they'd meet.

She got out of the car and turned back to Jacob for a last time. "Thank you Jake. For everything.", she silently said.

He smiled, wishing her good luck. "Was a pleasure, Audrey. Take good care."

_This is the last moment of my old life,_ Audrey thought, as she shut the door and turned away. Jacob was the last person to know her by her real name. It frightened her somehow that the moment had come so quickly.

All tensed up she started to walk over to the railway station. She soon got lost in the crowd. As she passed the soldiers who guarded the first crossroads, she was strained. But they didn't even notice her. She was just another one of these rushing persons. Nobody was looking for her here.

She went on and he tension got less. The two guards who patrolled the front square also didn't notice her.  
Audrey went on, past the railway station, over to the crossroads where she had agreed to meet Jack.

Another soldier appeared right at the crossroads. He just strode round the corner.

Audrey froze. It was Jack.

He wore his green service uniform and carried a bag on his back. As he spotted her, his face lighted up.

Audrey stopped and stared. She watched him come over to her. He was looking straight into her eyes. The rest of the world was suddenly non-existent for her. An unbelievable feeling came up. She felt butterflies in her stomach. Her legs turned to jelly. She couldn't have gone one step closer to him, although she would have wanted to run towards him.

She could hardly believe it was true. There was no reason to be afraid of leaving a life behind. This was the beginning of a new life.

As she watched him come closer, a thousand thoughts crossed her mind.  
In her mind, she saw Sergeant Armstrong's house, how she pictured it. It was a picture-perfect dream. He was only a few yards away any more. She stretched her arms out towards him. She'd never let go of him again.

Jack threw his bag onto the ground and wordlessly hugged her as he reached her.

Audrey put her hands around him and held him close.

"'re you ready?", he asked, whispering it into her ear.

She wordlessly nodded her head yes.

Eventually her lips found his and they merged into a deep kiss.

* * *

_09:15am LT, Washington DC, Union Station_

Seeing what was going on felt like a dagger in his heart. He sat in a parked car, watching what was going on at the other side of the crowded street.

He watched the couple, kissing passionately. It was nothing unusual. The man wore an army uniform. He was an officer, carrying a large bag. He had no idea what the epaulets and service stripes on his uniform meant, but that didn't matter at the moment.  
He stood at the sidewalk, kissing a beautiful blonde. She grabbed his face with both her hands and was passionately replying his kiss, her eyes closed.

Unable to move for a moment, he sat there and watched how the man's hands wandered down her back… way too low for his view.  
Too much passion. Too much feelings. Too much happiness in their eyes.

He was sure at this moment, that Audrey had never kissed him like that. He wasn't even sure any more if she had ever loved him. The way she was acting now showed him what this woman was actually capable of. He had never thought she would never open her heart up like that. Not to any man.

Had he been blinded by his own love, not seeing that he had gotten involved with a woman who was as cold as ice to him? What had made him believe she'd be like that to every man? He had been so fascinated by her that he didn't even want to care about the moments in which she hadn't acted like a loving woman. He had looked over the many secrets which she was carrying around with her.

Six weeks ago, Captain Bauer had promised him to stay out of their lives.

He watched him now, putting his hands on _his_ wife. He had broken the promise.

Had it ever been realistic to demand that from him? To stay away?  
As he looked at them now, seeing how happy they both were, he realized how stupid he had been to believe that Bauer would really keep his promise.

He had feared it all along. Yesterday evening, as he had looked into his eyes, having asked him about Audrey, he had known it already. Bauer was a terrible liar.

On the bottle of pills, he had read his social security number. It had been an easy thing to track him down. As a doctor, he had access to nearly all patient's files, also the ones of the army. He had been very surprised to find out about his regular check-up at Dr. Everdeen's office. He had even been more surprised to see him really attend that appointment. It had been easy to follow him. He had known all the way long that Bauer would lead him to Audrey sooner or later. He had been right.

Miles opened up the glove compartment and took out a gun. There was only one way to end his pain. He got out of the car, hiding the gun beneath his jacket.  
Quickly he crossed the street.

He watched the happy couple. They were just about to leave. Bauer shouldered his backpack again and they turned away from him, walking towards the railway station.  
They looked happy.  
He saw Audrey laugh out loud after he whispered something into her ear. She cocked her head back and smiled at her companion. Her beautiful blonde hair waved in the wind. He put his left arm round her waist and they continued to walk side by side.

Miles hesitated. He was too numb to do anything.

As he pulled the gun out of his jacket he already feared that this wouldn't take his pain away. But he didn't know what else to do.  
She had deceived him. He would have done anything for her. Goddamnit, he had loved her.

Way too much to let her go.

A passerby started to scream as she saw the gun in his hand.

Jack heard the screams and turned his head around.

For the split of a second their views met.

.

.

* * *

_Written to U2 Love is Blindess / Can't help fallin in love (Zoo TV live version)_


	23. Face-off II

**Face-off II**  
Friday, 26th of September, 2018  
09:20am LT, DC Union Station

* * *

Jack stopped walking.

Audrey had heard the screams of the other people now, too.

She turned around, already feeling how Jack grabbed her arms and pushed her behind his back. But she sneaked a peek at the man with the gun. She froze, as she recognized Miles' face.

"Jack…", she spoke beneath her breath. She heard her voice tremble. He stood in front of her, shielding her with his body. He had grabbed both her arms with his hands, keeping her behind him.

She laid her hands at his back and could easily feel that he didn't wear a bulletproof vest beneath his jacket. He was the same unprotected like she was.

"Jack…", she hissed again, tearing at his jacket. She wanted him to get out of the line of fire.

But he didn't let her move away from behind his back. He didn't even make an effort to draw his own gun.

He stood there, looking into Miles' eyes. If the other one had wanted to kill him, he'd have already done it b now.

Audrey's husband stood fifteen yards away. The gun in his hands was shaking. He hadn't said one single word up to now.

Jack saw it in his eyes that he wasn't ready to shoot yet. This man had never threatened somebody else with a gun ever before in his life. That made him incalculable.

Miles strode a few steps closer. He raised his other arm, too, and grabbed the handle of his gun with both hands.

Jack yielded backwards as Miles came closer, pushing Audrey backwards. "What do you want?", he asked him.

No answer from him.

Slowly it dawned on Jack, that the other man didn't even know what he wanted. He had raised the gun pretty aimlessly. The way he held it, he could see that Miles didn't know whether he should aim it at his head, his heart or elsewhere.

"Miles, put the gun down!", Audrey called from behind Jack's back.

"Then get out here!", he shouted back.

She already wanted to show herself to him, but Jack kept holding her behind his back. "Stay where you are.", he hissed.

"Audrey! COME OUT!", Miles roared.

Jack held her back.

"GET OUT HERE!", he roared again, brandishing his pistol.

Jack realized that he wasn't Miles' primary target. That man wanted Audrey, not him. If he had wanted to kill him, he'd have done it already. Somehow he had to get her away from here. He looked around and spotted the two soldiers who had patrolled the main entrance of Union Station. They had seen people screaming and were just about to come over here.

Miles had also seen them. He was running out of time and he knew it.

Again he shouted for Audrey to come out and fired two warning shots. One of the bullets hit the wall next to Jack and Audrey, the other one hit the ground in front of them.

Audrey screamed out loud as he had fired. For a second she had already feared Jack was hurt. He wasn't.

"Jack… let me handle this.", she whispered.

He shook his head, knowing that she'd only get hurt. He could see the fury in Miles' eyes. He was foaming with rage. He couldn't control himself any more. Nobody could calm this situation down any more. This was about to escalate.

For the split of a second he thought of drawing his gun. He could shoot Miles in the arm. The chances were there, that he'd take Miles down before he'd shoot back at him- but they were little.

Jack heard the soldiers approach behind him. He had to do something now.

In that moment, Audrey ripped herself free from his grab. Everything went so fast that he at first didn't even notice that she had taken the gun out of the holster at his belt and aimed it at her husband.

Audrey now stood protectively in front of him, pointing Jack's gun at Miles.

Jack wanted to hold her back. He heard the soldiers come closer. They'd take Miles down, he was sure.

Miles and Audrey looked into each other's eyes.

In that moment Jack saw the flicker of madness. In so many years, he had learned to notice when somebody was ready to pull the trigger of a gun and when not.

Right as one of the soldiers behind them shouted at Miles to lower his gun he started to fire at them.

The two soldiers jumped aside, taking cover behind a corner.

Jack dashed forward, grabbed Audrey and dragged her to the ground. Protectively, he lay on top of her.

Audrey felt how he ripped the gun out of her hand, getting ready to fire back.

Miles wasn't about to stop shooting. She heard one of his bullets hit a parked car right next to her. The bullet hole was only a few inches away from her head. He was shooting at anything and anyone right now.

Screaming she lay at the ground and curled up into a ball, covering her ears with her hands.

The endless seconds passed as Miles' magazine was empty. But then the soldiers stormed out of their cover and started to fire at him.

Audrey struggled to sit up. The two soldiers stormed past her and Jack. Somewhere on the other side of the street she saw Miles get into their car again. He was about to flee and it almost looked like he'd succeed.

Audrey turned around to Jack. He lay at the pavement, squirming with pain.

_Oh my god,_ she breathed and hurriedly bent down to him. She grabbed his face with both her hands and forced him to look at her. His features were distorted with pain. He had a hard time to keep his eyes open. The gun dropped out of his hand.

"Jack", she spoke, trying to pull him up.

He groaned with pain, leaning against one of parked cars next to them.

"Jack. Talk to me", she worriedly said, rattling his shoulders. It only hurt him more.

They both looked up as they heard somebody call their names out loud. Sergeant Armstrong pulled over right next to them. He jumped out of the car and leaped towards them. "Audrey! Jack!", he called.

She starred at him with widespread eyes, unable to speak one word.

Jacob knelt down next to her and grabbed Jack's shoulders. He already saw the pool of blood behind his back. His friend hung lifelessly in his arms.

Jacob took him by his arms and started to drag him along, over to his jeep.

"Audrey. Open the back door. Get his gun!", he commanded.

It needed a few seconds until she was able to respond. Quickly she grabbed Jack's gun from the sidewalk and opened the door for them. Jacob helped Jack get into the back of the car. She got in with him and just two seconds later, they raced away.

Jacob took the next left turn so tight that she got thrown down onto the back seats, right onto Jack. He groaned loud as she unintentionally touched his back. He still had the backpack on him. Audrey grabbed the two shoulder straps and carefully took the bag off him, fearing the worst.

She froze, as she saw two large bloodstains on his back. Every other second they grew bigger.

.

.

* * *

_Ok, I have to admit..._

_The first chapter of "Truth" that I wrote was the ending (which was supposed to be chapter 24)  
but everything turned out to be a lot different. I threw the old ending away.  
I honestly have no idea where this story is going to end. I don't even know whether it will have a good or a bad end... feel free to pm me and tell where you want it to go!_


	24. Freedom

**Freedom**  
Friday, 26th of September, 2018  
09:57am LT, North of Washington DC

* * *

"Audrey, help me. Take the blanket away.", Jacob commanded her. He had realized that she was so petrified and stunned that she wasn't able to do anything anymore. She was sitting in the car, now standing in the garage, starring into the nowhere, acting apathetically and not saying one word at all.

"Audrey!", he shouted again.

She trotted over to the bed and wordlessly put the blanket away.

Jacob stumbled into the motel room, dragging Jack with him.

Actually, he had only wanted to stay until he had seen Audrey would meet Jack. He hadn't intended to stay at Union Station any minute longer. But there had been a small traffic jam, keeping him there for a few more minutes. He had been stuck in traffic, keeping Audrey and Jack in sight with his monocular. As he had seen Jack getting shot down by this stranger, he had raced over to them.

Nothing of this went as plan.

He had looked at the time on the way here. He had to be at the shooting range at 10am, otherwise somebody would start to ask questions. By now he knew already, that he'd never get there in time.

He heaved Jack onto the bed in the motel room, trying not to get smudged with blood. That would only raise more questions which they all didn't need at the moment.

Jack was barely conscious. He had his eyes open, but breathed very weak.

"Jack?", Armstrong asked.

Jack tiredly turned his head a bit to look at him. "..all…right", he mumbled between his fitful breaths and then he shut his eyes again and lowered his head to rest on the bed.

"Audrey. Get me a wet towel from the bathroom.", Jacob said, taking off his own jacket. As he rolled up his sleeves, he watched her, how she went into the small bathroom, took one of the towels and soaked it. She was suddenly behaving so differently. Her view was cold and she made an impression to him that her mind was far, far away from this place.

As he took the towel out of her hands she yielded back to the wall where she sank down to the ground, hugging her legs with her arms. She crouched down, starring at Jack, who was still lying on the bed, writing in pain.

She just stared at him, not saying one word at all. Her eyes were wide open reflecting the terror in her thoughts.  
In his training he had learned a lot about how people coped with situations like these. Not everyone was able to put pictures like these aside. He hoped Audrey would regain her composure some time soon.

Jacob took a deep breath and knelt down on the bed, next to Jack. He'd let her be for the moment.

"Jack?", he asked, carefully grabbing him by his shoulder. "I've got to turn you around. We need to get that jacket off you."

Jack silently nodded his head yes. He clenched his teeth, preparing for the pain to set in.

He could have screamed out loud as Jacob turned his body to lie on his left side. He had really wanted to help him open up the buttons of his jacket and the shirt, but he was unable to. He hadn't seen the wounds. He hadn't even seen any blood up to now. But he felt how deep one of these gunshot wounds was- the one on his left side.

Jacob ripped the last few buttons of the shirt open and stripped it off his right arm.

More careful than before he helped Jack to lie prone again.

He froze at what he saw. The shirt was soaked with blood. It was all wet and clung to his skin. He could see the two bullet holes clearly- one on his lower left side and the other on close to his spine on his upper right back. He had lost a lot of blood through both wounds.

Carefully Jacob took Jack's shirt and slowly pulled it away. With every inch that he lifted the soaked cloth off his back he could see the damage better. He had a hard time not to get sick right away.

The bullet that had grazed the right side of his upper back hadn't gotten stuck. It had left a wide open tangential wound, heavily bleeding. He pulled the soaked shirt further away, also exposing the little shot wound at his lower left. Though it wasn't bleeding nearly as much, he instantly feared that it could be worse. He had seen no exit wound. The bullet must still be lodged in his body.

"Jack?", he asked.

He was surprised to see him slightly turn his head to look at him. "How bad" _is it,_ Jack had wanted to ask, but the last words wouldn't come out of his mouth.

Jacob wondered why he hadn't gotten unconscious up to now. He could hardly imagine the pain that he must be in.  
"What's worse? This" he softly pressed the wet towel onto a spot near the deep graze, "or this?" He wiped over the wound on his lower left.

Jack didn't answer. He simply pointed the fingers of his right hand to some place in front.

Jacob understood he meant the graze.  
"That's good. It's only a graze.", he answered, and pressed the wet towel on the wound to stop it from bleeding. He withheld the truth about how deep this graze was. He saw Jack's mouth open for a silent scream as he firmly pressed onto it. He had grabbed the pillow and clutched at it, trying to cope with pain somehow.

"Sorry.", Armstrong murmured, already knowing that no excuse could ever lessen the pain that he was causing him. But it was necessary to stop the bleeding somehow. He remembered his army training. Stop bleeding. Disinfect the wound somehow. Get the man to a hospital.

He could only do two of these things.

"Audrey?", Jacob said. Of course she didn't answer. In the corner of his view, he saw her crouching against the wall somewhere. "Can you get me his backpack?" He had seen briefly that Jack had worn an army backpack. There was always a medical kit in it. He hoped Jack hadn't removed it.

Audrey stood up and went back into the adjoined garage.

She came back soon after and handed Jacob the backpack wordlessly. Then she went back to her place and couched down again.

She simply couldn't look away, though she so badly wanted to look away.

She hated to see Jack writhe in pain. He was in pain because of _her_. There was no excuse for that. Jacob did his best to stop his wounds from bleeding. But still that didn't take away the pain.

Helplessly she sat there, watching the scene.

As Armstrong trickled a few drops of the antiseptic onto the open wound on his back Jack couldn't hold back a scream.

The noise pierced her marrow and bone.  
She sat there, covering her ears, but that didn't help her. The cry resounded in her head. She remembered it just too well. For the rest of her life, she wouldn't ever get that picture and these cries out of her head.

_They had stripped his clothes off him and forced down onto that bench. He lay, face down, and they bound his arms tightly down to it. His wrists were bloody and suppurating, after his hands had been tied nearly at all times during the last weeks. _

Fighting hard to keep conscious, Jack grabbed the pillow. He closed his eyes, but that made it only worse. This way he only had the pain to concentrate on. He knew it was necessary to be done- but in the moment he actually only wanted to push Armstrong off him. He couldn't stand this any longer.

_He had fought hard. He hadn't given up fighting for a single second. The three Chinese guards hardly kept him under control.  
She admired him for it. He hadn't given up.  
They had learned from their previous mistake and always came in threes to pick him up and get him out of his cell. Two held his arms tightly, the third one was walking behind him with an electroshock taser.  
This time it had been no different. Before they had fully strapped him down to the bench, he had gotten two shocks which struck him down just enough to get him tied up. He knew what was about to come, just like them.  
As she looked into the men's eyes, she could read their pleasure. Their thrill of anticipation for what was about to come now. Their sadistic desire for pain. Now they'd pay him back for every hard time he had ever given them.  
She knew just too well what was about to come. Two days ago they had used their whips. They had left bleeding scratches on his skin. Just one day ago, they had started to pour acid into his wounds. It was a pain that nobody could even describe. But the worst thing was knowing that it was about to dissolve his skin and the flesh underneath. The longer they kept doing this, the deeper the wounds got. _

Jack stared at the little bottle with the antiseptic that lay on the bed, right in front of his eyes. It had felt like Chinese torture. He started to call to his mind that he wasn't there. He was home. He was somewhere in the outskirts of DC. This was not a Chinese prison guard. Sergeant Armstrong knew what he was doing. Audrey….  
His mind stopped racing as he thought of her.  
Laboriously he turned his head to the other side and found her sitting at the floor. She was terrorized by memories, too.

"Audrey…", he said, silently. He wished so much that he'd be able to help her. He wished there wouldn't be ten feet of space separating them now. He could imagine so well what she was feeling right now- and what she was thinking about.

He saw the terror in her eyes. It reminded him of the day as she had come back from China.

"Audrey…", he said again, stretching out his left arm towards her. Every movement hurt. But he had to do something about her. For a moment he almost forgot about his own pain.

She didn't even react as he called her name. Immovably she sat there and stared at him.

_Cheng bent down to her. He made her watch. She wanted to close her eyes but every time she did that, they hit her. And they hit him, too.  
She almost got sick on what she saw through the glass panes in front of her. One of the guards took the bottle with this liquid again. He wore rubber gloves to protect himself from the content. She felt Cheng's nearness. "We can repeat that every day, Ms. Raines.", he spoke. The accent in his speech made it sound even more threatening. "Every day the acid will eat deeper into his flesh. There won't be much left if you don't talk."  
She started to cry. She'd not talk. He would hate her if she'd ever say one word to Cheng. More than he'd hate her for letting them do this to him.  
She kept her eyes open. She kept looking, knowing that this would spare them any more unnecessary pain.  
The guard stood over him, only waiting for Cheng's sign.  
Then he poured the acid over his victim's back.  
He screamed out loud.  
Audrey saw the transparent liquid as it trickled out of the bottle. It ran down over the side of his body, mingled with bright red blood from the wounds it had just torn open again. _

She saw the trail of blood that ran down over the side of his body now. There was so much of it. The hand that he stretched out towards her was smudged with blood. She could see it, as if it were cuffed into these old heavy iron shackles.

His upper body was naked. She saw the blood on his back.

It was everywhere.

The men over his body had bloody hands. She saw him lean over Jack again, with that bloody towel in his hands. His features became distorted with pain again, as the other pressed the towel against his wounds.

_He had screamed. A heart-piercing cry. Again and again. He had lost unconsciousness and they had waked him up again only to continue. After hours they had released him from the shackles. He had been barely able to move any more. No more struggle. No more fighting back._

Jack called her name again. "Audrey.", he weakly called her.

_He had called her name, at the verge of unconsciousness. _

The pictures all merged inside her mind.  
Wildly screaming she jumped to her feet and ran over to the bed, pushing Armstrong rudely away from Jack. He hadn't been prepared for this and crashed to the floor behind the bed, staring at her.

"Audrey…", Jack said again, trying to turn around to her. He had seen the terror in her eyes- he could understand her. Laboriously he turned around and found her kneeling at the lower end of the bed, staring into the far. She had no plan how to continue. She had never been in this situation before.

He softly grabbed her arm.

She jerked and then turned around – staring at him with disbelieve.

There was so much blood. Everywhere. She couldn't cope with this. His hand left a bloody print at her lower arm. Finally she ripped herself free and jumped off the bed. She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Jacob struggled to his feet again. "What the heck was that?", he stammered.

Jack rolled over to the side of the bed.

"Jack?", Armstrong asked. "What….?"

"Help me get up.", he groaned, getting rid of the second sleeve of his jacket and his bloody shirt.

"Jack, you should stay in bed." Jacob still helped him. "That's ridiculous."

"No." He left no discussion. Laboriously he limped over to the bathroom door. He was so damn afraid Audrey could do something very stupid now.

"Jack…", Armstrong protested again. He had a look at the two open wounds at his back. They had almost ceased to bleed. He was hoping it would stay that way. The overwhelming amount of blood had almost detracted his attention from what was beyond. It was the first time now that his view really got stuck in the scars beneath the blood.

Jack leant against the wall and closed his eyes. If he didn't move his right arm and his shoulder, then he almost didn't feel the tangential wound. But the bullet in his lower left side hurt more with every other step he made. He realized that Armstrong was staring at the scars at his back.

"I'll explain to you one day.", he silently said. "I really have to…", he started, but didn't finish the sentence. Instead, he simply opened the door to the bathroom and looked inside. He found Audrey, crouched down in the far end of the room.

Silently he entered the room and shut the door behind him.

Jacob stood in the motel room, not believing what he had seen.  
He was still so filled with adrenaline that he felt his knees shaking now.

He sat down at one of the chairs, staring at the bathroom door. Eventually he looked at his bloody hands. He still couldn't believe it.

DoD. Jack. CTU. Audrey. Inter-agency matters. These things wouldn't get out of his mind again. There was more to them.  
He had seen scars like these before, on pictures of tortured prisoners of war. Audrey had totally freaked out as he had laid his hands on Jack.

Slowly it all was beginning to make sense in his head.

.

_Audrey, you're safe here. We're at home. Everything is alright. I'm here. You're not alone. _He had crouched down next to her._  
_She had heard his words but she couldn't stop to cry. The pictures had been so real. Seeing them had totally destroyed her composure. She was back to that dark place she'd been at, years ago.

_It's alright. You're safe here,_ she heard him say.  
Wordlessly she snuggled up against his body. "I'm sorry.", she whispered.

"Sssh.. don't be.", he answered, his own voice wasn't louder than a breath. It hurt to speak up. "There's nothing to be sorry for."

She burst into a flood of tears again. "There is.", she sobbed. "There is." She simply had to tell him about the things that haunted her for years now. "Jack, it was me who did all this to you.", she whispered, "He made me watch all that they've done to you. I could have stopped them with one word but I didn't."

Though it hurt him a lot, he brought his left hand up to her neck. Tightly, he pulled her close to him, whispering into her ear "I know. I'm proud of what you did. There's nothing to be sorry for." As he had brought her out of Bakersfield, she had talked in her sleep. It had always been the same nightmare, haunting her.

"I'm the reason for all this here…", she began.

"No, you're not.", Jack cut in. He forced her to look into his eyes. "Audrey, you think you're the one who forced me into running away?" He shook his head. For a moment he just kept thinking about everything that had happened from Renee's death on. He had made so many mistakes. "I can't handle this. I killed people. I freaked out on the job. I crossed borders…" He looked into her eyes, slightly shaking his head. "I don't even know how to continue anymore. I can't go back and I don't want to. This is the last chance on freedom that I'll ever get." He wanted to say something, but he simply couldn't. Even breathing was hard work. Another wave of pain shuddered his body.

It was a cry for help and she clearly got it. It awakened her from her apathy. She had never seen him cry for help, ever before in his life. But now he did.

Concernedly she grabbed him and helped him to lie down, resting his head in her lap. His body was trembling.

"Audrey", he mumbled, and grabbed her arm. The pain was gnawing at his consciousness. "Audrey"

She bent down, taking his hand, pressing it tightly to show him that he was not alone.

"Whatever comes…", he began, his voice not louder than a whisper any more. "no hospital."

She hated to hear the words _whatever comes._ She didn't want to think of that opportunity. She didn't even want to think about him dying. "Jack, don't..."

He repeated his words, insistently. "Promise me."

"Okay, I give you my word.", she cried, not really wanting to.

He closed his eyes and she felt how his muscles relaxed as he drifted off.  
After a few moments she rattled his shoulders. "Jack?", she asked, hoping he'd wake up. "Jack!?", she called louder, pinching him into his shoulder. "Jack!", she roared. He didn't move.

.

.

* * *

_Fin._

_I decided to leave the end open. Either Jack and Audrey got away and reached the house in Huntingdon that they had dreamt of. He recovered and they started a new life.  
__Or Jack died in her arms, getting the ultimate revenge for Paul's death.  
__Choose what you like better._

_Thank you for reading.  
It took me hours and hours to write this story. If you liked it (or even if not, but then you would't have read it until here) may I ask you to take a few seconds of your time for a review or a pm? That's the only remuneration we authors ever get. I always like to get to know some people who are the same into 24 as I am! _

_. _

_yours sincerely,  
amacma_


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